[meteorite-list] There's no place like Haumea

Darren Garrison cynapse at charter.net
Thu Sep 18 10:36:07 EDT 2008


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haumea_(dwarf_planet)

On September 17, 2008, the International Astronomical Union classified (136108)
2003 EL61 as a dwarf planet and announced[5] that Brown et al's proposal to name
the body "Haumea", after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility, had
been accepted as official, with the moons named "Hi?iaka" and "Namaka", after
two of her daughters. The name was chosen in part to reflect the objects manner
of formation; according to myth, the children of Haumea sprang from different
parts of her body. Similarly, moons of the dwarf planet Haumea are believed to
have been broken off from its body by an ancient collision. The goddess Haumea
was also a personification of stone, and her namesake is believed to be mostly
rock.[6] Ortiz et al. had reportedly proposed the name "Ataecina".[7]



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