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Credit & Copyright: Alex H. Parker
(Southwest Research Institute)
Explanation:
Makemake,
second brightest dwarf planet of the
Kuiper belt,
has a moon.
Nicknamed MK2, Makemake's moon reflects sunlight with
a charcoal-dark surface, about 1,300 times fainter than its parent body.
Still, it was spotted in
Hubble
Space Telescope observations intended
to search for faint companions with the same
technique used to find the small
satellites of Pluto.
Just as for Pluto and its satellites, further observations of
Makemake
and orbiting moon will measure the system's mass and density
and allow a broader understanding of the distant worlds.
About 160 kilometers (100 miles) across compared to
Makemake's 1,400 kilometer diameter,
MK2's relative size and contrast are shown in this artist's vision.
An imagined scene of an unexplored frontier of the Solar System,
it looks back from a spacecraft's vantage as the dim Sun shines along
the Milky Way.
Of course, the Sun is over 50 times farther from Makemake than
it is from planet Earth.
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Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: dwarf planet
Publications with words: dwarf planet
See also: