makemake Archives - Universe Today

How Do We Terraform Ceres?

5 May , 2016 by Matt Williams

It is possible that we could someday transform Ceres, the largest object in the Asteroid Belt, to make it friendly for human habitation?

Dark Moon Discovered Orbiting Dwarf Planet Makemake

27 Apr , 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Planetary scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted a dark mini-moon orbiting the distant dwarf planet Makemake. The moon, nicknamed MK 2, is roughly 160 km (100 miles) wide and orbits about 20,000 km (13,000 miles) from Makemake.

10 Interesting Facts About Neptune

13 Dec , 2015 by Matt Williams

Here are ten of the more interesting facts about the gas/ice giant known as Neptune. Some you may know, others may surprise you

The (Possible) Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10

2 Sep , 2015 by Matt Williams

Within the Kuiper Belt lies the possible dwarf planet 2007 OR10, one of many objects that has forced astronomers to rethink the way they classify planets

The Dwarf Planet (and Plutoid) Makemake

19 Aug , 2015 by Matt Williams

In 2003, astronomer Mike Brown and his team from Caltech began a discovery process which would change the way we think of our Solar System. Initially, it was the discovery of a body with a comparable mass to Pluto (Eris) that challenged the definition of the word “planet”. But in the months and years that […]

What Is A Dwarf Planet?

17 Aug , 2015 by Matt Williams

The term dwarf planet has been tossed around a lot in recent years. As part of a three-way categorization of bodies orbiting the Sun, the term was adopted in 2006 due to the discovery of objects beyond the orbit of Neptune that were comparable in size to Pluto. Since then, it has come to be […]

Tenth planet? Artists concept of the view from Eris with Dysnomia in the background, looking back towards the distant sun. Credit: Robert Hurt (IPAC)

Eris’ Moon Dysnomia

28 Jul , 2015 by Matt Williams

Ask a person what Dysnomia refers to, and they might venture that it’s a medical condition. In truth, they would be correct. But in addition to being a condition that affects the memory (where people have a hard time remembering words and names), it is also the only known moon of the distant dwarf planet […]

Newest Planet: Is it Pluto, Eris or Extrasolar?

6 Jul , 2015 by Matt Williams

With astronomers discovering new planets and other celestial objects all the time, you may be wondering what the newest planet to be discovered is.

Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object

What Is The Kuiper Belt?

16 Jun , 2015 by Matt Williams

Dr. Mike Brown is a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech. He’s best known as the man who killed Pluto, thanks to his team’s discovery of Eris and other Kuiper Belt Objects. We asked him to help us explain this unusual region of our solar system. Soon after Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on […]

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It Looks Like These Are All the Bright Kuiper Belt Objects We’ll Ever Find

12 Jan , 2015 by Tim Reyes

The self-professed “Pluto Killer” is at it again. Dr. Michael Brown is now reminiscing about the good old days when one could scour through sky survey data and discover big bright objects in the Kuiper Belt. In his latest research paper, Brown and his team have concluded that those days are over. Ten years ago, […]

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