Space: researchers in Padoa discover ' secrets ' of planet Haumea
Padoa - A team of researchers form Padoa, recorded the measurements and characteristics of dwarf planet Haumea and discovered a ring around this "transneptunian" object, i.e. object that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune.
The night of 21 January 2017, during its orbital motion, Haumea eclipsed a star for just a few minutes. Thanks to this eclipse, recorded by observatories across the world, researchers were able to reconstruct the exact profile of the dwarf planet, establishing its exact dimensions.The eclipse was observed simultaneously by 12 European observatories, including the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory (Vicenza), though the 1.82 m telescope Copernico, which in that occasion was being used by a team from the University of Padoa.
"The high-quality of the data we collected in Asiago (INAF) explained Dr Valentina Granata allowed us to establish that Haumea is a so-called ellipsoid with three axes, long 1160 x 852 x 513 km, a lot larger than was previously believed. Therefore, we were able to make an accurate estimate of the planet's density (1.88 g/cm3), less than the previous estimates and very similar to Pluto's values".The study also led to the discovery of the ring around the planet, approximately 2300 km from its surface, but just 70 km thick.