José Luis Ortiz Moreno facts for kids

José Luis Ortiz Moreno, born in 1967, is a Spanish astronomer. An astronomer is a scientist who studies stars, planets, and space. He works with a team at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Granada, Spain. His team studies small space objects called minor planets. A main-belt asteroid, 4436 Ortizmoreno, was even named after him!

Discovering Dwarf Planet Haumea

In 2005, José Luis Ortiz Moreno announced an exciting discovery. His team found a new dwarf planet! It was given the temporary name 2003 EL61. Later, it was officially named Haumea. Haumea is one of the few dwarf planets recognized in our Solar System.

What is Haumea?

Haumea is a dwarf planet located far beyond Neptune. It is part of the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects. Haumea is special because it spins very fast. This fast spin makes it look like a squashed ball. It also has two small moons named Hiʻiaka and Namaka.

The Discovery Story

The discovery of Haumea was quite interesting. Ortiz and his team announced their finding in 2005. At the same time, another team led by Michael E. Brown at Caltech was also studying Haumea. Both teams had been observing this object.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the group that names planets and other space objects. They decided not to give credit for the discovery to just one team. Instead, they listed the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain as the place where Haumea was found. The IAU also accepted the name Haumea, which was suggested by the Caltech team. Ortiz had suggested the name Ataecina.

José Luis Ortiz Moreno is mentioned in Michael Brown's book, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming. This book talks about how Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet.

External Links

• Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
• One Find, Two Astronomers: An Ethical Brawl, The New York Times, September 13, 2005
• Astronomer denies improper use of web data, NewScientist.com, September 21, 2005

See also

In Spanish: José Luis Ortiz Moreno para niños