S/2015 (136472) 1
Makemake and its moon S/2015 (136472) 1, the fainter object pointed at by the arrow | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by |
|
| Discovery date | 27 April 2015 |
| Designations | |
| MK 2 (unofficial nickname) | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 22250±780 km | |
| Eccentricity | ≈0 |
| 18.023±0.017 days | |
| Inclination | 83.7° wrt Earth line of sight 63°–87° wrt ecliptic (prograde) |
| Satellite of | Makemake |
| Physical characteristics | |
| ~175 km (4% albedo; best fit) 175–250 km (2–4% albedo) | |
| 87.5 km | |
| Albedo | 0.04 (best fit) 0.02–0.04 |
| 25.0 | |
| 7.89±0.04 | |
S/2015 (136472) 1, unofficially nicknamed MK 2 by the discovery team, is the only known moon of Makemake, a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper belt. It is a dark object about 175 km (110 mi) in diameter, orbiting 22,250 km (13,800 mi) away from Makemake with an orbital period of 18 days. Observations leading to its discovery occurred in April 2015, using the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, and its discovery was announced on 26 April 2016.