This dwarf planet is one of the most unusual objects in the solar system

The mysteries of our solar system are slowly being unravelled, and scientists are making great strides in understanding its formation and evolution. Haumea, a dwarf planet found in the Kuiper Belt of icy worlds beyond the orbit of Neptune, is one of the most unusual objects in the solar system.

Nearly the size of Pluto, Haumea is the third-largest known dwarf planet and is one of the most distant objects in the solar system. It is believed to have formed from a collision between two large icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt. The collision created a large cloud of debris, which eventually coalesced to form Haumea. It's surface is covered in a layer of ice, which is believed to be composed of water ice, methane ice, and ammonia ice. The surface is also covered in craters, which are believed to have been caused by impacts from other objects in the Kuiper Belt.

The surface of Haumea, composed mostly of water ice, is unique compared to most other surfaces in the Kuiper Belt, with the exception of the dozen "siblings" that have similar orbits to the planet and appear to be related, forming the only known "family" of objects in the Kuiper Belt.

Nearly the size of Pluto and located in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, Haumea is shaped like an American football and spins super fast! A “day” on Haumea is only four hours long. Learn more about how scientists are studying this strange dwarf planet:https://t.co/YvnVrcQ9rD https://t.co/DxMYK6YutL pic.twitter.com/ZwhqbPnAuK

— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) December 29, 2022

Earlier this year, NASA-based scientists used computer simulations to study the origins of this strange dwarf planet. Based on their computer modeling, they hypothesized that Haumea collided with another object when the planets were first forming and everything was moving around the solar system.

However, they believe that the pieces of Haumea that were knocked off during this impact are not the same as the Haumean family we see today, which is a theory that has been proposed by other scientists. The researchers argue that such a powerful collision would have caused the pieces of Haumea to be scattered into much more dispersed orbits than the family members currently have.