WWTBAM Bored

A dwarf planet circling the sun out beyond the orbit of Neptune has been rechristened Makemake after a Polynesian god and designated the third of the solar system's new class of plutoids, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced Saturday.

Makemake is a small, red-tinged world that ranks among the largest objects in the outer solar system.

But it is still smaller and dimmer than the already demoted dwarf planet Pluto, which astronomers reclassified as a plutoid last month.

Astronomers discovered Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh), the fourth dwarf planet so far, in 2005 and believe its surface is covered by a layer of frozen methane.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:Newly discovered plutoid

A dwarf planet circling the sun out beyond the orbit of Neptune has been rechristened Makemake after a Polynesian god and designated the third of the solar system's new class of plutoids, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced Saturday.

Makemake is a small, red-tinged world that ranks among the largest objects in the outer solar system.

But it is still smaller and dimmer than the already demoted dwarf planet Pluto, which astronomers reclassified as a plutoid last month.

Astronomers discovered Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh), the fourth dwarf planet so far, in 2005 and believe its surface is covered by a layer of frozen methane.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,387883,00.html