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Bizarre Dwarf Planet Wrapped in Ice Blanket
Space.com ^ | 25 July 2011 | Charles Q. Choi

Posted on 07/29/2011 11:10:53 PM PDT by Windflier

Radioactivity and gravity may be why the strange football-shaped dwarf planet known as Haumea and its moons are unexpectedly sheathed in crystalline ice, shining in space, researchers suggest.

Haumea, named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth, orbits the sun beyond the path of Neptune, with two moons in orbit around it named Hi'iaka and Namaka, two of the deity's daughters.

Haumea is a bizarre dwarf planet world shaped like a cigar, or perhaps an American football, measuring about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) long, and makes one full rotation in less than four hours. This is one of the fastest rotation speeds in the solar system, which gave Haumea its odd shape.



TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: haumea; hiiaka; namaka; planets; space; xplanets
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To: Lazlo in PA

Was that Chuck Rainey on Bass? My HERO!

After Jameson(RIP), of course.


61 posted on 07/30/2011 8:58:08 AM PDT by left that other site (Psalm 122:6)
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To: grellis

Interesting article, still trying to figure out how it relates to MI. Is this where Jenny should have gone instead of Cali? Opposite of Hell MI?


62 posted on 07/30/2011 9:14:01 AM PDT by Springman (Rest In Peace YaYa123 and Bahbah.)
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To: Windflier

Mmmm, I love “planets in a blanket.”


63 posted on 07/30/2011 9:29:02 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Springman

It was in response to post #50, regarding the ongoing freepathon, per request


64 posted on 07/30/2011 9:57:10 AM PDT by grellis (I am Jill's overwhelming sense of disgust.)
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To: Lazlo in PA

Now, that’s a car.


65 posted on 07/30/2011 11:14:49 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Former War Criminal
What ever happened to the Columbia Record Club?

I hope they're out of business. I think I still owe them a balance from 1968.

66 posted on 07/30/2011 11:18:25 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: agere_contra
With due respect to our great friends across the Pond, the British cannot be taken seriously when it comes to cooking, dentistry, or sports.

Footballs are properly kicked at the change of possession. Soccer balls are randomly kicked throughout a chaotic mash-up that bears no actual resemblance to an athletic event.

Football (American, as I pointed out, is redundant because there is no other kind) is nothing like Rugby. The Englishman's claim that Football is "like" Rugby -- like the even more ridiculous fallacy that Baseball is "like" Cricket -- simply cements the inarguable fact that the British know nothing about sports. I have played all four games. There are no actual similarities, except that Cricket is played with something vaguely resembling a bat. Cricket (not surprisingly) bears a much stronger resemblance to Soccer, in that "players" (I am being extraordinarily charitable here) run about purposelessly until they tire themselves out. There is no actual "scoring" that could be recognized by a sentient being.

A Rugby player would survive about nine minutes in a Football game; an NFL cornerback -- the lightest man on the field -- would knock him out cold several times during that period, and probably would not break a nail. A soccer "player" (again, I'm stipulating to a hypothetical to advance the discussion) would wet himself shortly after entering the stadium.

Football is "static," "tedious" and "repetitive" to people who don't understand it. To those of us who do, it is actually (by far) the most mentally challenging game in the world. European sports consist of nothing more than a series of cognitive grunts by comparison. In soccer, there is no strategy, except that one must pretend to have no arms or hands for nine hours. That is why soccer is so popular with American school children under the age of eight. Once they develop physically and psychologically, they quickly outgrow it.

Cheerleaders are idiots. The serious Football teams (for example: the Pittsburgh Steelers) do not have them. Real American men don't watch women on the sidelines, they take them to games.

67 posted on 07/30/2011 11:19:20 AM PDT by FredZarguna (I won't say the album art was exactly a turn-off, either.)
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To: Grut
That’s not an American football, it’s a Rugby ball.

Good eye. I thought the same thing.

68 posted on 07/30/2011 11:25:03 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: bd476

Thanks for the post/ping. I donated $50 this go ‘round and just got the “Thank You” in the mail from Jim and Amy yesterday. BTTT!


69 posted on 07/30/2011 11:58:07 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: SunkenCiv

Yeah.... (embarrassed). I know that.... but I just wasn’t thinking right. Hell, I even PLAY it sometimes when I play solo (really).


70 posted on 07/30/2011 4:15:44 PM PDT by KeepUSfree (WOSD = fascism pure and simple.)
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To: Windflier

...Good post, thanks...


71 posted on 07/30/2011 4:39:21 PM PDT by gargoyle (...This looks like a good fight, deal me in...)
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

The chart needs to be updated—a few days ago they reported that Pluto has four known moons. The new one is very small, like Hydra and Nix, not like Charon.


72 posted on 07/30/2011 8:10:07 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Windflier

Probably in the millions.


73 posted on 07/30/2011 10:48:47 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: LukeL

It’s too small and light to pull itself into a sphere.


74 posted on 07/30/2011 10:50:28 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Verginius Rufus

You’re right.

I don’t think they’ve had a chance to get an estimate of it’s size yet.


75 posted on 07/30/2011 10:52:43 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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