Makemake (Dwarf Planet/Plutoid)

Makemake (correct Polynesian pronunciation MAH-kay MAH-kay) named after Make-make the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) people's god of fertility and creator of humanity, was discovered on March 31, 2005, by the team of M. E. Brown, C. A. Trujillo and D. L. Rabinowitz. This late addition to the solar family, located in the Kuiper belt [1] beyond Pluto and Haumea, was included by the IAU in the newly created dwarf planet [2] subclass "plutoid" [3] July 11, 2008, making it officially both a dwarf planet (based solely on its exceptional brightness, a virtual guarantee of hydrostatic equilibrium) and plutoid.

Makemake's orbit of 38.51 AU at Perihelion and 53.07 AU at Aphelion, places it the furthest from the Sun of any KBO (Kuiper belt object) but leaves it far short of distant Eris.

Its diameter of approximately 1,500 kilometers makes it about two thirds the size of Pluto.

Spectroscopic analysis seems to indicate the presence of methane or maybe ethane ice which might sublimate at closest approach and form a tenuous atmosphere. Makemake’s high albedo suggests an average surface temperature of -243 degrees Celsius.

No satellite has been detected in orbit.

[1] The Kuiper belt is a region of the outer Solar System populated by billions of rock-ice objects. It reaches from the orbit of Neptune (30 AU) outward to approximately 55 AU.

[2] A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round shape), (c) has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit and (d) is not a satellite.

[3] A "plutoid" is a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet.

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