Makemake

Makemake is the fourth official dwarf planet here. It was officially called a dwarf planet in July 2005, just about two months before Haumea. It is also a large KBO. Like other planets that orbit our solar-system from the edge, it is also icy & cold (temperature of about -240°C). Because it is vary far away, it also needs a very long time to orbit the Sun once (nearly 310 years!).. O.O And clearly therefore, it is also usually farther from the Sun than Pluto.

It is smaller than Pluto & Eris and its diameter is only between 1,300 km to 1,900 km. That is about three quarters of the size of Pluto. But astronomers haven't discovered any moons for Makemake yet. This is a bit odd, because other large KBO objects have at least one moon. Makemake may be covered with ice, that is made of methane & maybe ethane too.

The surface of this planet is bright, something you would expect from a surface of ice.. But it is also kind of red in colour, which you wouldn't expect....

It may also have an atmosphere (some of the time). When this dwarf planet come closer to the Sun in its orbit, it warms up. This may cause the methane & ethane gases then to form an atmosphere. When it gets further from the Sun, Makemake may cool down. Then the gases would fall onto its surface as 'snow'.. So, the atmosphere's gone again! BUT again, this is only theory. Scientists aren't sure if this happens. This might also happen to Pluto.. Who knows, right?

Like Haumea, it is also named after a god, but not a Hawaiian one. This time, it's a god from the mythology of the Rapa Nui people of the Easter Island (the place with the 'world wonder' statues). He is the god of fertility & the creator of humans in the mythology. As you know, July 2005 is also not long after Easter 2005, therefore, astronomers nicknamed it "Easterbunny" :-0 This is funny ^.^ So, when they had to choose an official name for this planet, they decided to name it after a character from the mythology of Easter Island.

Makemake, with Pluto & Eris (not Ceres!), is also called a "plutoid". These are dwarf planets, like Pluto, that orbit the Sun from beyond the planet of Neptune. Ceres orbits the Sun before Jupiter.