Determining the Size and Shape of Dwarf Planet Haumea from a Mutual Event

Physics

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Scientific paper

The history of Haumea is closely intertwined with several unanswered questions relating to the formation and evolution of the outer solar system. Understanding Haumea and its satellites gives us unique insights on the physics of KBO collisions, tides, surfaces, and interiors. Yet, the most important physical properties of this dwarf planet, its density and shape, remain only weakly constrained by degenerate light curve inversions. The existence of mutual events between Haumea and its inner satellite, Namaka, provide a rare opportunity to measure Haumea's size, shape, density, albedo, and spin orientation with HST photometry. These observations also constrain the size of Namaka, the orbits of both satellites, and, through resolved photometry, the totally unexpected rapid rotation of the outer satellite, Hi'iaka. After extensive attempts at ground-based observations, it is clear that only HST photometry is capable of securely observing and characterizing a Haumea-Namaka mutual event. The proposed observations will observe the ~5-hour transit and shadowing of Haumea by Namaka on June 28, 2010 with high signal-to-noise using straightforward photometric observations with WFC3.;

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