Recently discovered Makemake is one of the largest objects known in the outer Solar System.
Pronounced MAH-kay MAH-kay, this
Kuiper belt object is only slightly smaller than Pluto, orbits the Sun only slightly further out than Pluto, and appears only slightly dimmer than Pluto.
Makemake, however, has an orbit much more tilted to the ecliptic plane of the planets than Pluto. Designated
2005 FY9 soon after its discovery by a team led by
Mike Brown (
Caltech) in 2005, the outer Solar System orb was recently renamed
Makemake for the creator of humanity in the
Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island. Additionally, Makemake has been recently classified as a
dwarf planet under the
new subcategory plutoid, making Makemake the third cataloged
plutoid after Pluto and Eris. Makemake is known to be a world
somewhat red in appearance, with spectra indicating it is
likely covered with frozen
methane. Since no images of
Makemake's surface yet exist, an artist's illustration originally meant to depict
Sedna has been boldly co-opted above to now illustrate Makemake. A
hypothetical moon is visualized above nearly in the direction of our distant Sun.
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