Taken From space.com
Astronomers have recently discovered one of the strangest objects, to date, in our solar system. This dwarf planet has virtually the same diameter as Pluto but is only about 1/3 its mass – meaning it actually looks more like a flattened cigar or pancake. Read more at: http://www.space.com/news/080919-fifth-dwarf-planet.html
The question then becomes how does such an object form? It is no coincidence that nearly all planets and stars are spherical in shape. Objects tend to assimilate to the lowest energy state possible, or in the case of celestial bodies – spheres. This is because the planets and stars have a very large gravitation force pulling inward from all directions; creating a “ceiling” or “roof” that is the same height in all directions (a sphere). But how then do anomalies such as these exist?
According to the article “The new dwarf planet has the same diameter as Pluto, but is much thinner, and contains about 32 percent of Pluto’s mass. Scientists suggest Haumea’s long, narrow shape arose from its rapid spin — it rotates about once every four hours.” In other words there are forces on this object other than just its gravitational pull. This is true of all celestial bodies; however it becomes much more apparent as objects begin to rotate very quickly.
Think of it much like building a clay pot. As you rapidly spin the clay in a circle the clay begins to flatten and elongate. This is due to the centripetal acceleration of the mass. As the mass continues to spin faster and faster it begins to accelerate outward and is either shot outward and off the remaining mass or causes the clay pot to elongate and squish together.
Haumea’s formation would be much like that of a clay pot. While the dwarf planet has a gravitational force pulling inward in all directions, it is also spinning incredibly fast on its axis. So you could imagine that the mass is being pulled in and pushed out by two competing forces. However this gives rise to an even bigger question – why then is such a large body spinning so incredibly fast?
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