Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

Makemake y su luna

This Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the first moon ever discovered around the dwarf planet Makemake. The tiny moon, located just above Makemake in this image, is barely visible because it is almost lost in the glare of the very bright dwarf planet. The moon, nicknamed MK 2,...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2016
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2016-18-3739-image
Por

This Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the first moon ever discovered around the dwarf planet Makemake. The tiny moon, located just above Makemake in this image, is barely visible because it is almost lost in the glare of the very bright dwarf planet. The moon, nicknamed MK 2, is roughly 100 miles wide and orbits about 13,000 miles from Makemake. Makemake is 1,300 times brighter than its moon and is also much larger, at 870 miles across.

The Makemake system is more than 50 times farther than the Earth is from the sun. The pair resides on the outskirts of our solar system in the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of frozen debris from the construction of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

Previous searches for a moon around Makemake turned up empty. The moon may be in an edge-on orbit, so part of the time it gets lost in the bright glare of Makemake.

Hubble's sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3 made the observation in April 2015.

Credits

NASA, ESA, A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA GSFC)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameMakemake, Dwarf Planet (136472), and its Moon S/2015 (136472) 1, MK 2
Object DescriptionKuiper Belt Object, Dwarf Planet (136472) Makemake (870 miles in diameter) and moon S/2015 (136472) 1, MK 2 (100 miles in diameter)
R.A. Position12h 49m 39.0s
Dec. Position26° 22' 12.0"
ConstellationComa Berenices
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe HST data were taken from proposal PI: M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center). The science team comprises A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute), W. Grundy (Lowell Observatory), and K. Noll (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).
InstrumentHST>WFC3
Exposure DatesApril 27/29, 2015, Exposure Time: 4,350 seconds
FiltersF350LP

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Fuente

La imagen y el material de referencia se acreditan al archivo oficial de la misión enlazado a continuación.

Ver en NASA.gov

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