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Dwarf-system satellite

MK2

A faint companion revealing that Makemake is not alone.

MK2 is a small, dark satellite detected close to bright Makemake. Its discovery opened a way to constrain the dwarf planet’s mass once the orbit is sufficiently measured.

Orbit representation
Representative mean elements
Surface
procedural reconstruction

Reference measurements

The numbers that shape this world

Mean radius
87.5 km
Mean orbital distance
21,000 km
Orbital period
12.4 days
Eccentricity
Unresolved
Inclination
UnresolvedRepresentative parent-equatorial visual plane; source-backed pole unresolved
Orbit plane
Representative

System portrait

A discovery defined by contrast

The body remains poorly resolved. The page therefore emphasizes the measured system context and labels the visual surface as a restrained reconstruction.

System geometry

MK2 around Makemake

MK2 orbits at a mean distance of 21,000 km with a period of 12.4 days. Its eccentricity remains unresolved, and the orbital inclination is not asserted relative to Representative parent-equatorial visual plane; source-backed pole unresolved. Missing angular orientation stays explicitly representative.

Representation notes

What Explore is showing

Only a restrained representative separation/period context is rendered. No surface map or precise angular orbit is claimed.

Reference-guided visual reconstruction based on cited mission records; no source raster is reproduced.

Provenance

Sources and related destinations