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Makemake
Makemake (minor-planet designation: 136472 Makemake) is a dwarf planet and the largest of what is known as the classical population of Kuiper belt objects, with a diameter of 1,430 kilometres (890 mi), or 60% that of Pluto. It has one known satellite, which has not been named. Its extremely low average temperature, between 30 and 40 K (−240 and −230 °C), means its surface is covered with frozen methane, which eventually breaks down into heavier organic compounds including ethane, ethylene, and acetylene. Makemake appears reddish-brown in color like Pluto, due to tholins on its surface. Makemake shows signs of geothermal activity and thus may be capable of supporting active geology and harboring an active subsurface ocean.
Makemake was discovered in images taken on March 31, 2005, by a team led by Michael E. Brown, and announced on July 29, 2005. It was initially known as 2005 FY9 and later given the minor-planet number 136472. In July 2008, it was named after Makemake, a creator god in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island, under the expectation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that it would prove to be a dwarf planet.
No high-resolution images of Makemake's surface exist because it has not been visited up close by a space probe. Makemake is so far from Earth that it appears as a star-like point of light, even when viewed through a telescope. Nevertheless, scientists have expressed desire to send a space probe to explore Makemake because of its potential subsurface ocean and geological activity.
Makemake was discovered in 2005 by a team of American astronomers consisting of Michael E. ("Mike") Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz during their search for planets and other Solar System objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. The team's search for trans-Neptunian objects, which begun in 2001, involved routinely imaging the night sky using the QUEST camera attached to the 1.22-meter (48 in) Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The discovery images of Makemake were taken by this telescope on March 31, 2005, but it was not until April 3, 2005 that Mike Brown found the object in his inspection of the images.
Several months before Makemake's discovery, Brown and his team had discovered the Pluto-sized dwarf planets Haumea and Eris and were in the process of planning further observations before announcing them to the public. The team originally planned to delay the announcement of Makemake to sometime after Eris's planned announcement in October 2005. However, this plan was upended when a team led by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain announced their own discovery of Haumea on July 27, 2005. Brown realized that his team's observing logs containing the positions of Haumea, Eris, and Makemake were unintentionally public and had been accessed by a computer at Ortiz's institution, which led Brown to suspect that Ortiz's team had fraudulently made use of Brown's data to claim the discovery of Haumea. Fearing that his team's discoveries of Eris and Makemake will be scooped, Brown contacted Brian G. Marsden of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) to announce the two objects on July 29, 2005. The MPC issued the discovery announcements for Eris and Makemake on its website at noon California time, followed by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams later that evening.
The provisional designation 2005 FY9 was given to Makemake when the discovery was made public. Before that, the discovery team used the codename "Easterbunny" for the object, because of its discovery shortly after Easter.
In July 2008, in accordance with IAU rules for classical Kuiper belt objects, 2005 FY9 was given the name of a creator deity. The name of Makemake, the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the myths of the Rapa Nui, the native people of Easter Island, was chosen in part to preserve the object's connection with Easter.
Planetary symbols are no longer much used in astronomy. A Makemake symbol ⟨.svg){kind=small}
⟩ is included in Unicode as U+1F77C: it is mostly used by astrologers, but has also been used by NASA. The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz and John T. Whelan; it is a traditional petroglyph of Makemake's face stylized to resemble an 'M'. The commercial Solar Fire astrology software uses an alternative symbol (.png){kind=small}
), a crossed variant of a symbol (.svg){kind=small}
) created by astrologer Henry Seltzer for his commercial software.
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Makemake AI simulator
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Makemake
Makemake (minor-planet designation: 136472 Makemake) is a dwarf planet and the largest of what is known as the classical population of Kuiper belt objects, with a diameter of 1,430 kilometres (890 mi), or 60% that of Pluto. It has one known satellite, which has not been named. Its extremely low average temperature, between 30 and 40 K (−240 and −230 °C), means its surface is covered with frozen methane, which eventually breaks down into heavier organic compounds including ethane, ethylene, and acetylene. Makemake appears reddish-brown in color like Pluto, due to tholins on its surface. Makemake shows signs of geothermal activity and thus may be capable of supporting active geology and harboring an active subsurface ocean.
Makemake was discovered in images taken on March 31, 2005, by a team led by Michael E. Brown, and announced on July 29, 2005. It was initially known as 2005 FY9 and later given the minor-planet number 136472. In July 2008, it was named after Makemake, a creator god in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island, under the expectation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that it would prove to be a dwarf planet.
No high-resolution images of Makemake's surface exist because it has not been visited up close by a space probe. Makemake is so far from Earth that it appears as a star-like point of light, even when viewed through a telescope. Nevertheless, scientists have expressed desire to send a space probe to explore Makemake because of its potential subsurface ocean and geological activity.
Makemake was discovered in 2005 by a team of American astronomers consisting of Michael E. ("Mike") Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz during their search for planets and other Solar System objects beyond the orbit of Neptune. The team's search for trans-Neptunian objects, which begun in 2001, involved routinely imaging the night sky using the QUEST camera attached to the 1.22-meter (48 in) Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, United States. The discovery images of Makemake were taken by this telescope on March 31, 2005, but it was not until April 3, 2005 that Mike Brown found the object in his inspection of the images.
Several months before Makemake's discovery, Brown and his team had discovered the Pluto-sized dwarf planets Haumea and Eris and were in the process of planning further observations before announcing them to the public. The team originally planned to delay the announcement of Makemake to sometime after Eris's planned announcement in October 2005. However, this plan was upended when a team led by José Luis Ortiz Moreno at Sierra Nevada Observatory in Spain announced their own discovery of Haumea on July 27, 2005. Brown realized that his team's observing logs containing the positions of Haumea, Eris, and Makemake were unintentionally public and had been accessed by a computer at Ortiz's institution, which led Brown to suspect that Ortiz's team had fraudulently made use of Brown's data to claim the discovery of Haumea. Fearing that his team's discoveries of Eris and Makemake will be scooped, Brown contacted Brian G. Marsden of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) to announce the two objects on July 29, 2005. The MPC issued the discovery announcements for Eris and Makemake on its website at noon California time, followed by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams later that evening.
The provisional designation 2005 FY9 was given to Makemake when the discovery was made public. Before that, the discovery team used the codename "Easterbunny" for the object, because of its discovery shortly after Easter.
In July 2008, in accordance with IAU rules for classical Kuiper belt objects, 2005 FY9 was given the name of a creator deity. The name of Makemake, the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the myths of the Rapa Nui, the native people of Easter Island, was chosen in part to preserve the object's connection with Easter.
Planetary symbols are no longer much used in astronomy. A Makemake symbol ⟨⟩ is included in Unicode as U+1F77C: it is mostly used by astrologers, but has also been used by NASA. The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz and John T. Whelan; it is a traditional petroglyph of Makemake's face stylized to resemble an 'M'. The commercial Solar Fire astrology software uses an alternative symbol (), a crossed variant of a symbol () created by astrologer Henry Seltzer for his commercial software.