S/2025 U 1

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/s-2025-u-1

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the object classification?Moon (satellite) of dwarf planet Haumea
2. What is the parent body?Dwarf planet Haumea
3. How big is S/2025 U 1?The moon is just a few kilometers across, a size comparable to some small asteroids or cometary nuclei.
4. Where does S/2025 U 1 orbit?It orbits very close to Haumea, completing one full orbit in less than 18 Earth hours—much faster than the Moon orbits Earth.

Oblate Spheroid: A sphere that is flattened at the poles and bulges at the equator, like a squashed ball.
Kuiper Belt: A circumstellar disc of small icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, a reservoir of comets and dwarf planets.
Spectroscopic Analysis: Studying the light reflected or emitted by an object to determine its chemical composition.
Protoplanetary Disk: A rotating disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star, from which planets may eventually form.