Pluto adds 'brother'

Two years ago, Pluto was no longer considered a planet and along with Ceres and Iris, it was classified as the dwarf planet of the Solar System. Recently, the dwarf planet "family" was added a name: Makemake.

On July 11, 2008, the International Astronomical Association (IAU) officially recognized the title "dwarf planet" for an object of Kuiper belt discovered three years ago. This dwarf planet is officially named Makemake.

Makemake was discovered on March 31, 2005 by astronomers at Palomar Observatory, California. At that time, it was temporarily named 2005 FY9 (or 136472), moving on the orbit an average of 45,791 astronomical units (AU, 1 AU = 150 million km) with a one-time motion around the Sun. about 309.88 years of Earth.

Photo simulated Makemake - Photo: Space Daily

Makemake is a bit smaller than Pluto, the third dwarf planet by distance to the Sun (Ceres, Pluto, Makemake, Eris). According to IAU's latest classification, Makemake is classified as a Plutoid group with Pluto and Eris. Through observation, this dwarf planet has a reddish surface and astronomers believe it is because it is covered by a layer of methane ice.

According to astronomer Michael Brown (California Institute of Technology, Caltech), the observer leader, the name of the dwarf planet Makemake is named after the fertility god and created the legend in the islanders of Easter Island. Born, the island with mysterious human heads discovered by Europeans at Easter, is also the time to discover Makemake.

* Dwarf planet is the celestial body flying around the Sun, not the natural satellite of a planet or other object. They have enough mass for gravity to form a sphere or close to the bridge, and they cannot wipe out other objects in the adjacent space with their orbit.

* Plutoid is the class of dwarf planets moving in orbit farther than Neptune.