The Kuiper Belt Object known as Haumea is one of the strangest worlds in the entire solar system. This object lies
in a region of space known as the Kuiper belt, a swarm of icy bodies that orbit the Sun beyond the planet Neptune. Haumea
appears to be a lump of rock with a thin coating of ice. It rotates faster than any large object in the solar system, completing
one turn on its axis in just 4 hours. This rapid rotation has helped to elongate Haumea into the football
shape we see today. Soon after this world formed it may have suffered through a giant impact that sped up its rotation, created its
two known moons and blasted off much of its water ice.
At right is a diagram showing the relative sizes of Earth, Pluto, Haumea and other distant solar system objects.
This strange object was discovered using the Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope as a part of ongoing survey
of the outer solar system.
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Dwarf Planet Haumea