Makemake is a dwarf planet in the outer edges of the solar system in the Kuiper Belt. It was discovered in March 2005, and announced by Mike Brown in July of 2005. It is about 2/3 the size of Pluto, so it is relatively small. However, it was recently discovered that Makemake has a companion body discovered in April of 2016 (from images taken in April of 2015 from the Hubble Space Telescope). It is not the only dwarf planet with a satellite.
Pluto has five, including Charon. Eris, the largest dwarf planet by mass (Pluto is larger by volume), has one (Dysnomia). Haumea has two. Satellites around dwarf planets may be pretty common.
No comments:
Post a Comment