STScI: Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake

by Press on April 27, 2016

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Dwarf planet makemake and moon — Dwarf Planet Makemake and Moon (NASA, ESA, and A. Parker – SwRI)

Baltimore, MD-(ENEWSPF)- Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second brightest icy dwarf planet — after Pluto — in the Kuiper Belt.

The moon — provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2 — is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake. MK 2 was seen approximately 13,000…