2009/03/04 by Wesley C. Fraser, W. C. Fraser, Michael E. Brown +1 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/695/1/l1
7 Pages, 2 Figures, Accepted in Apj Letters
arxiv created 2009/03/04 · openalex publication_date 2009/03/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We present here Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS F110W and F160W observations of Haumea, and its two satellites Hi'iaka and Namaka. From the measured (F110W–F160W) colors of −1.208 ± 0.004, −1.48 ± 0.06, and −1.4 ± 0.2 mag for each object, respectively, we infer that the 1.6 μm water–ice absorption feature depths on Hi'iaka and Namaka are at least as deep as that of Haumea. The light curve of Haumea is detected in both filters, and we find that the infrared color is bluer by ∼2%–3% at the phase of the red spot. These observations suggest that the satellites of Haumea were formed from the collision that produced the Haumea collisional family.