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KOMPAS.com – Before astronomers knew that there are so-called celestial bodies To (Currently), Pluto is called the ninth planet after Neptune.
However, when astronomers discovered the FY9 2005 celestial body in 2005, its name was changed to MacMake in 2008; Pluto has been removed from the category of planets in our solar system.
Why is that? Here are some facts you need to know about MacMac:
1. MacMac’s invention and naming
Reported by the official page NASA, MacMac was first launched by astronomers on March 31, 2005 at M.E. Brown, C.A. Trujillo and D. Discovered in Palomer Laboratory by Robinovitz.
Before it was officially confirmed, this one celestial body was named 2005 FY9. Meanwhile, the name Makemake came from the name of the fertility god Rabanuy on Easter Island.
Also read: Tonight, the Macmag dwarf planet looks bright to the opposition sun
MacMake is the smallest planet outside the solar system and is located in it Khyber belt (Khyber belt), i.e. the area outside the orbit of Neptune.
The Khyber belt is a universe of thousands of miniature ice and rock worlds that formed about 4.5 billion years ago in the early history of the solar system.
MacMake is the fourth item to be identified Dwarf planet And causes Pluto to lose its status as a planet.
3. The second brightest dwarf planet
Although slightly smaller than MacMut Pluto, it claims to be the second brightest object in the Khyber belt visible from Earth.
Pluto is smart at first.
Although astronomers have not been able to see the surface details of MacMac, its surface is similar to that of Pluto, which is red. Then on the surface it was found methane and frozen ethane.
Also read: 5 This week’s celestial event, the lunar eclipse merger, the full moon star Gemini
4. Create a scale and distance
With a radius of about 444 miles or 715 kilometers, McMake’s radius is ninth on Earth. For example, if the earth is about the size of a nickel, MacMake is the size of a mustard seed.
At an average distance of 6,847,000.00 kilometers, MacMake is 45.8 astronomical units (SA) from the Sun. It should be noted that sa is the distance from the sun to the earth.
From that distance, it takes 6 hours and 20 minutes for sunlight to reach the Mac.
5. Orbit and rotation
This dwarf planet takes about 305 Earth years to make a journey around the Sun.
Astronomers have called the dwarf planet’s recent voyage the occult in front of the star to determine if there is an atmosphere in MacMake.
Meanwhile, in 2015, astronomers finally discovered a small object (the moon) orbiting MacMake using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
This month is S / 2015 (136472) 1 and has the nickname MK2. It is 1,300 times brighter than the MacMake.
Also read: The Mars Ocean will not disappear, the water is hidden inside the planet
MK2 is visible at a distance of about 13,000 miles or 20,000 kilometers from the dwarf planet, with an estimated radius of about 50 miles or 80 kilometers.
6. Studies change the history of the solar system
NASA says MacMac has a prominent place in the history of the study of the solar system because, along with Eris, he was one of the inventors of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) who reconsidered its definition of planets and formed a new group. Dwarf planet.
As reported Space.com, (2/5/2016), in 2006 the International Astronomical Union finally created a new type of celestial body “Dwarf planet“Or a dwarf planet.
As a result, they redistributed the definition of planets.
According to the IAU, a planet orbits the sun, but does not orbit anything else, large enough to circle under its own gravitational pull, as well as destroying the environment surrounding objects.
In this case, Pluto was excluded from the planetary category for not removing debris from its orbit.
