S/2015 (136472) 1, unofficially nicknamed MK2 by the discovery team, is the only known moon of the trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Makemake. It is a dark object about 175 km (110 mi) in diameter, orbiting 22,250 km (13,800 mi) away from Makemake with an orbital period of 18 days. Observations leading to its discovery occurred in April 2015, using the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and its discovery was announced on 26 April 2016.
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In this Dossier
S/2015 (136472) 1 in the context of Makemake
Makemake (minor-planet designation: 136472 Makemake) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a disk of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the fourth largest trans-Neptunian object and the largest member of the classical Kuiper belt, having a diameter 60% that of Pluto. It was discovered on March 31, 2005 by American astronomers Michael E. ("Mike") Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz at Palomar Observatory. As one of the largest objects found by this team, the discovery of Makemake contributed to the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Makemake is similar to Pluto with respect to its surface: it is highly reflective, covered largely by frozen methane, and stained reddish-brown by tholins. Makemake has one known satellite, which has not been named. The orbit of this satellite suggests that Makemake's rotation has a high axial tilt, which implies that it experiences extreme seasons. Makemake shows evidence of geochemical activity and cryovolcanism, which has led scientists to suspect that it might harbor a subsurface ocean of liquid water. Gaseous methane has been found on Makemake, although it is unclear whether it is contained in an atmosphere or comes from temporary outgassing.
S/2015 (136472) 1 in the context of Solar System object
The following is a list of Solar System objects by orbit, ordered by increasing distance from the Sun. Most named objects in this list have a diameter of 500 km or more.
- The Sun, a spectral class G2V main-sequence star
- The inner Solar System and the terrestrial planets
- Mercury
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Asteroids in the asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
- Ceres, a dwarf planet
- Vesta
- Pallas
- Hygiea
- Europa (asteroid)
- Davida
- Sylvia
- Asteroids number in the hundreds of thousands. For longer lists, see list of exceptional asteroids, list of asteroids, or list of Solar System objects by size.
- A number of smaller groups distinct from the asteroid belt
- The outer Solar System with the giant planets, their satellites, trojan asteroids and some minor planets
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Rings of Uranus
- Complete list of Uranus's natural satellites
- Uranus trojan (2011 QF99)
- Uranus-crossing minor planets
- Neptune
- Non-trojan minor planets
- Trans-Neptunian objects (beyond the orbit of Neptune)
- Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs)
- Plutinos
- Orcus, a dwarf planet
- Pluto, a dwarf planet
- Complete list of Pluto's natural satellites
- Ixion
- Achlys
- Twotinos
- Cubewanos (classical objects)
- Plutinos
- Scattered-disc objects
- Detached objects
- (612911) 2004 XR190
- 2012 VP113 (possibly inner Oort cloud)
- Sedna, a dwarf planet (possibly inner Oort cloud)
- Oort cloud (hypothetical)
- Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs)