Key facts
- Scale fact
- 1,430 kmmean diameter
- Estimated age
- ~4.5 billion years
- Composition
- Rock, methane and ethane ice
Makemake
1,430 kmmean diameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
Makemake is a bright dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt with methane and ethane ice on its surface. Hubble found a small, dark moon called MK2 in 2015; measuring that moon’s orbit could improve estimates of Makemake’s mass.
Makemake is the second-brightest known Kuiper Belt object as seen from Earth, after Pluto, but appears only as a point of light in most observations. Spectra reveal methane and ethane ice, while Hubble images disclosed the much darker satellite MK2.
Links
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Makemake on Wikipedia
- Universe journey
- Solar System
Size neighbors
Objects near Makemake on the scale
Sources
References for Makemake
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Makemake — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.