Haumea

Haumea lies in the Kuiper Belt with a similar size as Pluto, originally being designated 2003 EL61 and nicknamed Santa by one team. Haumea is one of the fastest rotating objects in our solar system. The fast spin distorts the dwarf planet and makes it look like a football.

Discovery
Even though two teams claim credit for the discovery of Haumea from observations in 2003 and 2004, the International Astronomical Union's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature lists the discovery was made at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain on March 7th, 2003; but no discoverer is officially listed.

Size and Distance
Haumea is about 1/4 the size of Earth, with a radius of 385 miles (620 kilometres). Earth would be the size of a nickel if Haumea were a sesame seed.

Haumea is 43 astronomical units away from the Sun, with an average distance of 4,010,000,000 miles (6,452,000,000 kilometres). One astronomical unit (abbreviated as 'AU') is the equal distance from the Sun to Earth. Sunlight takes 6 hours to travel to Haumea at this distance.

Orbit and Rotation
As Haumea orbits the Sun, one rotation is completed every 4 hours. One year on Haumea, however, takes 285 Earth years. This makes the dwarf planet one of the fastest rotating objects in our solar system.

It is possible that a large object massively impacted Haumea billions of years ago which distorted Haumea's spin and splitted it to create the moons orbiting it.

Formation
Haumea is a member of a disc-like zone beyond Neptune's called the Kuiper Belt. In this zone, three dwarf planet sit here including Haumea, Pluto and Makemake. This realm is populated with thousands of miniature icy worlds which formed in the early history of our solar system. These objects are called Kuiper Belt objects, transneptunian objects and plutoids.

Structure
Astronomers believe Haumea is made of rock with a coat of ice.

Surface
Scientists know very little about Haumea's surface.

Atmosphere
Scientists know very little about Haumea's atmosphere

Magnetosphere
Scientists don't think Haumea has a magnetosphere.

Moons
Haumea has two known moons in its orbit. Namaka, which is the most most inner moon, and Hi'iaka, which is the outer moon. Both of these moons are named after the mythological daughter of Huamea. Hi'iaka is the patron goddess of the island of Hawaii and hula dancers whilst Nakama is a water spirit in Hawaiian mythology.

Rings
Haumea is the first known Kuiper Belt object to have rings. Scientists announced the discovery in 2017 after the planet passed in front of a star.

Human Life
Haumea's surface is very cold, so it's very unlikely any life could have adapted to it.

Significant Dates
2004 - Haumea's discovery is announced by a team claiming they recovered data in 2003.

2005 - Haumea's moons are discovered

2008 - Haumea is officially recognised as a dwarf planet due to the definition change in 2006.