Astronomers discover ring around the dwarf planet Haumea

Astronomers have discovered a Saturn-like ring around Haumea, a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune.

The mysterious icy world was only discovered in 2004 and this is the first time a ring has been spotted around a body so far out in the solar system.

Experts say the discovery suggests the stunning bands, made up of dust, rocks and ice, are not as rare in our solar system as previously thought. 

The find opens up new avenues of research in the trans-Neptunian region, where some scientists believe a mysterious ninth planet may be located.

An international team of researchers, including experts from the Institute Of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, made the discovery.

Jose Luis Ortiz and colleagues predicted that Haumea would cross paths with the star URAT1 533-182543 and arranged for observations from 12 ground-based telescopes on January 21 this year.

This involved laboratories at 10 different locations, including in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovinia and Slovakia.

They used a technique called ‘stellar occultation’ in which the light from a distant star is blocked when an object passes in front of it. 

Using the light from the star, they were able to study the planetoid in unprecedented detail, to measure Haumea’s size, shape and density. 

Haumea, which the study confirmed has no atmosphere, is unusual for its elongated and fast-rotating body.

Writing in the report, its authors said: ‘Here we report observations from multiple Earth-based observatories of Haumea passing in front of a distant star.

‘The discovery of a ring around Haumea has numerous implications, such as rings being possibly common also in the trans Neptunian region.

‘This opens the door to new avenues of research.’

Haumea’s high speed spins cause the solid rock it is made of to flow out, creating a strange shape which has been likened to an elongated egg or flattened rugby ball. 

The researchers discovered that the ring’s orbital period is three times Haumea’s spin period which, at less than four hours, is one of the quickest known.  

Haumea’s ring was found to lie in the same plane as its equator and as the orbit of its outer moon, Hi’iaka.

The ring has a radius of about 1,420 miles (2,287 km) and a width of 44 miles (70 km). 

They were able to work out the density of the planet, which has an upper limit of about 1,885 kilograms per cubic metre (117 lbs per cubic foot). The study also revealed the dwarf planet has an ellipsoid shape and no atmosphere

Experts were also able to work out the density of the planet, which is around 117 lbs per cubic foot (1,885 kg per cubic metre) at its most dense.

This is just slightly more dense than human bone and comparable with Pluto.

Planetary rings capture the imagination with their stark beauty. 

Viewing Saturn and its extended ring system through even a small telescope is awe-inspiring and has drawn many people into studying science and engineering.

In our solar system, rings were believed to be present solely around the four gas giants, although only those of Saturn are easily visible from Earth.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HAUMEA

Oddly-shaped Haumea is one of the fastest rotating large objects in our solar system. 

It completes a turn on its axis every four hours. 

The quick spin elongated the dwarf planet into the unique shape astronomers discovered in 2003. 

It is roughly the same size as Pluto and, Like Pluto and Eris, Haumea orbits our Sun in the Kuiper Belt, a distant zone of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.

It takes 285 Earth years for Haumea to make one orbit around our sun.

It is possible a massive impact billions of years ago set off Haumea’s spin and created its moons, Hi’aka and Namaka. 

Oddly-shaped Haumea is one of the fastest rotating large objects in our solar system. This artist’s impression shows what Nasa believed the dwarf planet, complete with its two moons, looked like as of 2010

Astronomers believe Haumea is a made of rock with a coating of ice.

Haumea was discovered in March 2003 at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain. The official announcement of its discovery came in 2005, the same year its moons were discovered.

It was originally designated 2003 EL61 and nicknamed Santa by its discoverers.

It is now named for the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility. 

Its moons are named for daughters of Haumea. 

Hi’aka is the patron goddess of the island of Hawaii and of hula dancers. Namaka is a water spirit in Hawaiian mythology.

But in the past few years they have been unexpectedly identified around Centaurs, small bodies whose orbits lie between those of Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune.

Dr Ortiz said: ‘Haumea, one of the four known trans-Neptunian dwarf planets, is a very elongated and rapidly rotating body.

‘The Centaur Chariklo was the first body other than a giant planet known to have a ring system and the Centaur Chiron was later found to possess something similar to Chariklo’s rings.’  

Astronomers believe that the orbits of a number of bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the pull of an as yet unidentified planet far beyond Neptune. 

Researchers from the Institute Of Astrophysics Of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, made the discovery using light from a start to illuminate the celestial body. They found that Haumea’s ring lies in the same plane as its equator and as the orbit of its moon Hi’iaka

First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorised to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies.

In order to fit in with the data they have, this alien world, popularly called Planet Nine, would need to be roughly four time the size of Earth and ten times the mass.

Researchers say a body of this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of a number of icy minor planets beyond Neptune.

Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun.

The theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, with astronomers confident it will be found in the coming years.