Haumea

}Haumea is a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt with a semi-major axis of 43 AU from Sol. It was discovered on 28th December 2004 by Mike Brown at the Palomar Observatory in the United States on Earth.

Unlike most objects in the Sol System, Haumea rotates incredibly quickly at nearly 4 hours. Due to this fast rotation, it appears oblated, or more of an egg-shape instead of an almost spherical shape.

Its orbit is close to another KBO, Makemake.

Discovery

Discovered by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in the United States on 28th December 2004, Haumea appeared as a fuzzy spot with the best, available technologies of the time. Over time, the dwarf planet's uniqueness was uncovered: its rotation period and shape.

In 2005 the Palomar Observatory discovered 2 moons, Namaka and Hi'iaka.

In 2017, the presence of a ring system was detected when a stellar occultation was observe.

Space Exploration

Haumea was first visited by space probes in 2066 and revealed the first close-up images of the ice world. After a year, the first human space station was constructed in orbit around the dwarf planet. It supported up to eighteen crew members and was equiped with sensors, cameras and docking ports, to allow more space station attachments.

Moons

Haumea has two moons, Namaka (186 km) and Hi'iaka (314 km), both discovered in 2005