Strange Dwarf Planet Has Red Spot

A dwarfplanet in our solar system, called Haumea, is known for its unusual shape andfast spin. Now astronomers have discovered another distinguishing feature: adark red spot which appears to be richer in minerals and organic compounds thanthe surrounding icy surface.

Haumea, discoveredin 2004, orbits the Sun beyond Neptune, in a region known as the KuiperBelt. It is classified as a dwarf planet? a celestial body that is big enough to have been rounded by its own gravity,but has not cleared its neighboring region of similar objects. There are fourother dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, Eris andMakemake. Haumea is the fourth largest dwarf planet.

Most ofwhat we know about this object was determined from studying variations in itsbrightness, called a "light curve." And it is through examination ofthis light curve that scientists have found the dark spot.

"Thetwo brightness maxima and the two minima of the light curve are not exactlyequal, as would be expected from a uniform surface," said Pedro Lacerda ofQueen's University Belfast in the United Kingdom. "This indicates thepresence of a dark spot on the otherwise bright surface."

Newobservations of this spot are planned for early 2010 using the ESOVery Large Telescope. "Now we will get detailed spectroscopy of thespot to hopefully identify its chemical composition and solve the puzzle of itsorigin" Lacerda concluded.

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