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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                 2022 December 31   
      
                                Moon over Makemake   
        Illustration Credit: Alex H. Parker (Southwest Research Institute)   
      
      Explanation: Makemake (sounds like MAH-kay MAH-kay), second brightest   
      dwarf planet of the Kuiper belt, has a moon. Nicknamed MK2, Makemake's   
      moon reflects sunlight with a charcoal-dark surface, about 1,300 times   
      fainter than its parent body. Still, in 2016 it was spotted in Hubble   
      Space Telescope observations intended to search for faint companions   
      with the same technique used to find the small satellites of Pluto.   
      Just as for Pluto and its satellites, further observations of Makemake   
      and orbiting moon will measure the system's mass and density and allow   
      a broader understanding of the distant worlds. About 160 kilometers   
      (100 miles) across compared to Makemake's 1,400 kilometer diameter,   
      MK2's relative size and contrast are shown in this artist's vision. An   
      imagined scene of an unexplored frontier of the Solar System, it looks   
      back from a spacecraft's vantage as the dim Sun shines along the Milky   
      Way. Of course, the Sun is over 50 times farther from Makemake than it   
      is from planet Earth.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: planet Earth   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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