Dwarf Planet MakeMake

Pronounce as “makimaki”. Nothing to see folks! only a very very dim and small star-like object. However, Makemake is the third largest Kuiper belt object, after Pluto and Eris. Makemake is smaller than our moon. Sunlight travels 6hrs and 20 mins to reach this object of only 1430km diameter. It was first observed at Palomar observatory in 2005 and recognized as a Kuiper belt dwarf planet in 2008.

Hubble discovered in 2015 a moon next to MakeMake, “MK2”. This moon has a diameter of 160km and turns around Makemake in 12 days at a distance of 21.000 km. It is definitively out of reach at magnitude 25 !

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