site_of_astronomical_discovery 
Haumea , minor - planet designation 136108 Haumea , is a dwarf planet located beyond Neptune ' s orbit . It was discovered in 2004 by a team headed by Mike Brown of Caltech at the ___MASK79___ in the United States and independently in 2005 , by a team headed by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain , though the latter claim has been contested . On September 17 , 2008 , it was recognized as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union ( IAU ) and named after Haumea , the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth . ( 120178 ) 2003 OP32 , also written as ( 120178 ) 2003 OP32 , is a trans - Neptunian object ( TNO ) that resides in the Kuiper belt . It was discovered on July 26 , 2003 by Michael E . Brown , Chad Trujillo and David L . Rabinowitz at Palomar Mountain in California . The Kuiper belt or , sometimes called the Edgeworth  Kuiper belt , is a circumstellar disc in the Solar System beyond the planets , extending from the orbit of Neptune ( at 30 AU ) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun . It is similar to the asteroid belt , but it is far larger  20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive . Like the asteroid belt , it consists mainly of small bodies , or remnants from the Solar System ' s formation . Although many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal , most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles ( termed " ices "), such as methane , ammonia and water . The Kuiper belt is home to three officially recognized dwarf planets : Pluto , Haumea , and Makemake . Some of the Solar System ' s moons , such as Neptune ' s Triton and Saturn ' s Phoebe , are also thought to have originated in the region . The Hale Telescope is a , 3 . 3 reflecting telescope at the ___MASK79___ in California , US , named after astronomer George Ellery Hale . With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation , he orchestrated the planning , design , and construction of the observatory , but did not live to see its commissioning . The " Hale " was groundbreaking for its time , with double the diameter of the next largest telescope and pioneering the use of many technologies such as vapor deposited aluminum and low thermal expansion glass . It is still in active use . A trans - Neptunian object ( TNO , also written transneptunian object ) is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance ( semi - major axis ) than Neptune , 30 astronomical units ( AU ). Twelve minor planets with a semi - major axis greater than 150 AU and perihelion greater than 30 AU are known , which are called extreme trans - Neptunian objects ( ETNOs ). In physics , an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space , for example the orbit of a planet about a star or a natural satellite around a planet . Normally , orbit refers to a regularly repeating path around a body , although it may occasionally be used for a non recurring trajectory or a path around a point in space . To a close approximation , planets and satellites follow elliptical orbits , with the central mass being orbited at a focal point of the ellipse , as described by ___MASK100___ ' s laws of planetary motion . ___MASK79___ is an astronomical observatory located in San Diego County , California , United States , southeast of Los Angeles , California , in the Palomar Mountain Range . It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) located in Pasadena , California . Research time is granted to Caltech and its research partners , which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL ) and Cornell University . Palomar Mountain is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County . It is famous as the location of the ___MASK79___ and Hale Telescope , and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park . History . The Luiseno Indian name for Palomar Mountain was " Paauw " and High Point was called " Wikyo ."