This Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the first moon ever discovered around the dwarf planet Makemake. The tiny moon, located just above Makemake in this image, is barely visible because it is almost lost in the glare of the very bright dwarf planet. The moon, nicknamed MK 2, is roughly 100 miles wide and orbits about 13,000 miles from Makemake. Makemake is 1,300 times brighter than its moon and is also much larger, at 870 miles across.
The Makemake system is more than 50 times farther than the Earth is from the sun. The pair resides on the outskirts of our solar system in the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of frozen debris from the construction of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
Previous searches for a moon around Makemake turned up empty. The moon may be in an edge-on orbit, so part of the time it gets lost in the bright glare of Makemake.
Hubble's sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3 made the observation in April 2015.
Credits
NASA, ESA, A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA GSFC)| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Makemake, Dwarf Planet (136472), and its Moon S/2015 (136472) 1, MK 2 |
| Object Description | Kuiper Belt Object, Dwarf Planet (136472) Makemake (870 miles in diameter) and moon S/2015 (136472) 1, MK 2 (100 miles in diameter) |
| R.A. Position | 12h 49m 39.0s |
| Dec. Position | 26° 22' 12.0" |
| Constellation | Coma Berenices |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST data were taken from proposal PI: M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). The science team comprises A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3 |
| Exposure Dates | April 27/29, 2015, Exposure Time: 4,350 seconds |
| Filters | F350LP |
| About The Image | |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
