NASA researchers believe the strange shape and unusual composition of the mysterious dwarf planet is
Haumea is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt.slightly smaller than Pluto. It rotates around its axis extremely quickly for such a massive object - the "day" on it lasts only four hours. Due to the high speed of rotation of the planets, it looks not like a ball, but like a deflated American football ball.
Simulation of the rotation of the planet. Image: Tomruen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
But this is not the only oddity:Haumea's surface, composed mostly of water ice, is unlike almost any other surface in the Kuiper belt. The only exception is a group of asteroids that move in similar orbits and are believed by scientists to be associated with the planet by a common history.
The researchers used computermodeling to understand how such a strange planet could have formed. For their calculations, scientists used only established data: the size and mass of Haumea and its short four-hour "day".
Using simulations, scientists have restored the overallthe density of the planet and its core, the amount of ice on the planet's surface, and the distribution of mass that affects its rotation. Based on the data obtained, scientists have restored the evolution of Haumea.
Proposed stages in the evolution of Haumea. Image: Jessica L. Noviello et al., The Planetary Science Journal
Based on their modeling, the scientistshypothesized that when the planets were just forming, Haumea collided with another object. Moreover, it was not the fragments of this explosion that formed the “satellites” of the planet. They were thrown into distant orbits and over the years of evolution lost contact with it.
The "family" of the planet was formed much later,scientists think. As the planet formed, dense rocky material settled toward the center while lighter ice rose to the surface. At the same time, the planet itself rotated even faster than today. As a result of this rotation, it threw "splashes" of ice into space, which became the basis of the "satellites".
At the same time, the radioactive rocks of the planet emittedheat that melted some of the ice, creating an ocean below the surface. The water has soaked up the rocky material in the center of Haumea and caused it to swell into a large core of clay that is less dense than rock. The increase in core size has slowed the planet's rotation to its current speed.
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On the cover: a computer model of Haumea. Image: NASA