Miscellaneous
Dwarf Planet Haumea

Haumea is a strange world, orbiting beyond Pluto and only discovered in 2003. It is a flattened ellipsoid with dimensions of approximately 2000x1500x1000 km, the 2000 km long axis being roughly the diameter of Pluto. It takes 284 years to orbit the sun, but is one of the fastest-rotating bodies in the solar system, at just under 4h.

Haumea has a mass of only 1/1400 that of Earth and so gravity is comparatively slight – but because of its eccentric shape would vary markedly over its surface. It is thought to be composed largely of rock, covered with ice, with a reflectivity as bright as snow.

Date: 15/04/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock

Dwarf Planet Haumea

Haumea is a strange world, orbiting beyond Pluto and only discovered in 2003. It is a flattened ellipsoid with dimensions of approximately 2000x1500x1000 km, the 2000 km long axis being roughly the diameter of Pluto. It takes 284 years to orbit the sun, but is one of the fastest-rotating bodies in the solar system, at just under 4h.

Haumea has a mass of only 1/1400 that of Earth and so gravity is comparatively slight – but because of its eccentric shape would vary markedly over its surface. It is thought to be composed largely of rock, covered with ice, with a reflectivity as bright as snow.

Date: 15/04/2021

Photographer: Graham Wilcock