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Dwarf planet
Makemake
Makemake is a dwarf planet. It is about 1,430 km across – smaller than our Moon. Makemake was discovered in 2005 shortly after Easter and named after the creator god of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
Fact file
- Type
- Dwarf planet
- Diameter
- 1,430 km
- Distance from the Sun
- 6,850,000,000 km
- Orbital period
- 306.2 years
- Temperature
- -239 °C on average
- Mass
- 0.00052 Earth masses
- Gravity
- 0.05 times as strong as on Earth
- Escape velocity
- 0.8 km/s
- Length of day
- 22.8 hours
- Number of moons
- 1
Interesting facts about Makemake
- Makemake was discovered in 2005 shortly after Easter and named after the creator god of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
- Its reddish-brown surface is covered in frozen methane.
- Seen from Earth, it is the second-brightest known object in the Kuiper Belt after Pluto; its tiny moon MK2 was discovered in 2016.
Frequently asked questions about Makemake
How big is Makemake?
Makemake has a diameter of 1,430 km. That is about 11% of the diameter of Earth.
How far is Makemake from the Sun?
Makemake is on average 6.85 billion km from the Sun. That is 45.79 astronomical units (AU). Sunlight takes about 6.3 hours to cover this distance.
How long is a year on Makemake?
Makemake takes 306.2 Earth years to travel once around the Sun.
How cold or warm is it on Makemake?
On Makemake the average temperature is −239 °C.
Name and discovery
After the creator god of the Rapa Nui on Easter Island – it was discovered shortly after Easter.
Discovered on 31 March 2005 by Mike Brown's team.
Formation
Makemake is a remnant from the early days of the Solar System and is one of the “classical” Kuiper Belt objects with a relatively calm orbit.
Atmosphere
Probably no global atmosphere; a stellar occultation in 2011 showed that, at the very least, it is not dense.
Exploration
Studied only from Earth (including the 2011 stellar occultation and the discovery of its moon by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2016).
Compared with Earth
At about 1,430 km across, Makemake is roughly a ninth of Earth's diameter.
Moons of Makemake
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