Haumea's Shape and Composition

We have calculated the figure of equilibrium of a rapidly rotating, differentiated body to determine the shape, structure, and composition of the dwarf planet Haumea. Previous studies of Haumea’s light curve have suggested Haumea is a uniform triaxial ellipsoid consistent with a Jacobi ellipsoid with axes $\approx 960\times 774\times 513$ km, and bulk density $\approx 2600 , {\rm kg} , {\rm m}^{-3}$. In contrast, observations of a recent stellar occultation by Haumea indicate its axes are $\approx 1161 \times 852 \times 523$kmanditsbulkdensity$\approx 1885 , {\rm kg} , {\rm m}^{-3}$; these results suggest that Haumea cannot be a fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium and must be partially supported by interparticle forces. We have written a code to reconcile these contradictory results and to determine if Haumea is in fact a fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium. The code calculates the equilibrium shape, density, and ice crust thickness of a differentiated Haumea after imposing (semi-) axes lengths $a$ and $b$. We find Haumea is consistent with a differentiated triaxial ellipsoid fluid in hydrostatic equilibrium with axes of best fit $a$ = 1050 km, $b$ = 840 km, and $c$ = 537 km. This solution for Haumea has ${\rho }_{\mathrm{a}\mathrm{v}\mathrm{g}}=2018\mathrm{k}\mathrm{g}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$, $\rho_{\rm core} = 2680 , {\rm kg} , {\rm m}^{-3}$,andcoreaxes$a_{\rm c} = 883$km,$b_{\rm c} = 723$km,and$c_{\rm c}=470$ km, which equates to an ice mantle comprising $\sim 17\mathrm{\%}$ of Haumea’s volume and ranging from 67 to 167 km in thickness. The thick ice crust we infer allows for Haumea’s collisional family to represent only a small fraction of Haumea’s pre-collisional ice crust. For a wide range of parameters, the core density we calculate for Haumea suggests that today the core is composed of hydrated silicates and likely underwent serpentinization in the past.