Makemake
Where is Makemake?
Low in the west, at most 8° up around 20:20 in Coma Berenices.
- Rises
- 05:37
- Highest
- 13:31
- Sets
- 21:21
- Best after dark
- 20:20 · 8°
Can I see Makemake tonight?
From London tonight, Makemake stays low while the sky is dark: at best 8° above the west horizon around 20:20. You’ll need a clear, flat view in that direction.
At magnitude 17.1 it needs a large telescope, a dark sky and a detailed chart.
This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.
What does Makemake look like?
Eyes
Not visible.
Binoculars
Not visible.
Telescope
Beyond typical amateur telescopes. Large instruments with cameras can record it as a faint moving dot.
About Makemake
Makemake is one of the largest known objects in the Kuiper Belt, roughly two-thirds the size of Pluto. Its discovery was announced in 2005, around Easter, and it is named after the creator god of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.
Its surface is bright and reddish, coated with frozen methane and ethane. Unlike Pluto, it does not appear to have a significant atmosphere today.
In 2016, the Hubble Space Telescope found a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake.
At around magnitude 17, Makemake is far too faint for backyard telescopes. SkyMate shows where it lies, even though you can’t see it directly.
Makemake takes about 305 years to orbit the Sun. Its surface reflects most of the sunlight that falls on it, and after Pluto it is the brightest known object in the Kuiper Belt as seen from Earth.
Like other Kuiper Belt objects, Makemake is a leftover building block from the time the planets formed, preserved in the deep cold far from the Sun.
Other dwarf planets
Questions
Can I see Makemake?
Does Makemake have a moon?
Sources: SkyMate; IAU Minor Planet Center; star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences