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Hubble Telescope Spots New Moon Orbiting Dwarf Planet Makemake

NASA’s Hubble Space telescope has found a previously unseen moon around the dwarf planet Makemake. The very bright dwarf planet lies beyond the planets of the Solar System in the Kuiper Belt, catching the last rays of the sun, after which lies the vast void of outer space that contains 99.9999… % of the universe.  Science Focus reports: Warm spot mystery Named after the creation god of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, Makemake (pronounced mah-key mah-key) has puzzled scientists as to why despite infrared readings showing a bright and cold surface, the dwarf planet frequently shows warmer patches. Previously they thought it was due to the Sun heating specific patches of surface, but given Makemake’s orientation that solution should show significant changes in the brightness – these were never observed. But by pointing the Hubble Space Telescope’s new Wide Field Camera 3 at the distant object and using the same techniques they used to find Pluto’s moons, astronomers were able to pick out the faint glow of a satellite orbiting Makemake. This means the warmer patches were not actually warm spots on the dwarf planet, but the sun reflecting of the dark surface of the newly discovered moon. Makemake, MK2 [...]