Haumea spins faster than any other big world in the solar system: once every four hours.
That spin has pulled it out of shape. It's about 2,300 km long but only about 1,000 km from pole to pole, like a squashed egg.
In 2017 astronomers watched it pass in front of a star and found something no one expected: a thin ring around it.
It also has two small moons and a family of icy fragments flying on similar orbits. Scientists think they were all knocked off in a giant crash long ago, which also set Haumea spinning.
It's named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth, and its moons after two of her daughters.
If you stood here
Days and nights would race past every two hours, with a faint ring arching overhead. Standing at the pointy end, you'd weigh less than at the middle.
- Size
- 2,322 km long, 1,026 km pole to pole
- One day
- 3.9 hours
- One year
- 282.6 Earth years
- Moons
- 2
- Temperature
- about −241 °C
- 70 kg on Earth weighs
- 3 kg here
