Haumea (dwarf Planet) - Classification

Classification

Haumea is a plutoid, a dwarf planet residing beyond Neptune's orbit. Its status as a dwarf planet means it is presumed to be massive enough to have been rounded by its own gravity but not to have cleared its neighbourhood of similar objects. Although Haumea appears to be far from spherical, its ellipsoidal shape is thought to result from its rapid rotation, in much the same way that a water balloon stretches out when tossed with a spin, and not from a lack of sufficient gravity to overcome the compressive strength of its material. Haumea was initially listed as a classical Kuiper belt object (classical KBO) in 2006 by the Minor Planet Center, but no longer. The nominal trajectory suggests that it is in a fifth-order 7:12 resonance with Neptune since the perihelion distance of 35 AU is near the limit of stability with Neptune. There are precovery images of Haumea dating back to March 22, 1955 from the Palomar Mountain Digitized Sky Survey (observatory code #261). Further observations of the orbit will be required to verify its dynamic status.