Asteroid Makemake (136472), Kuiper Belt
Makemake is a member of the Kuiper belt and currently has a distance to Earth of about 7.7 billion kilometers. This makes it the most distant object that can still be seen
in a telescope with a 50cm mirror diameter. The diameter of Makemake is given on average with 1400 to 1500 kilometers. The albedo of the reddish surface has a value
of 0.81, which leads to the object being the apparent brightest KBO with 16.9mag despite its relatively small size. Makemake is an extremely icy and hostile world with
temperatures of -240°C and no atmosphere. The dwarf planet is orbited by a small moon with a diameter of 170km.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Makemake and I have been friends for a long time, even though we have only met twice. It all started in 2009, when I saw this KBO for the first time with my 18" Dobson.
This observation totally fascinated me - and so many years later Makemake found itself once again on my observing list.
And so I stood on top of the mountain with my 20" Dobson in spring. The sky above me was very transparent and the air was calm. The seeing was quite good and the wind
was blowing only lightly in the tops of the firs. Best conditions to see Makemake a second time. The position was found quickly and so I could soon hide under my dark cloth.
Fortunately Makemake was close to a prominent asterism at this time, so it was no problem to aim at the position of the plutoid.
After a short time, the time had come and a very faint "star" flashed up at the place we were looking for. It was Makemake! Easier than expected, but at least I had 2 inches
more aperture available and the conditions were much better than in 2009. The reunion joy was great and so I spent some time under the black cloth to capture the few photons
Makemake had sent in my direction.
Even though the first sighting was of course much more significant than the second one, it was still a great thing to have seen an icy object at a distance of almost 8 billion
kilometers with my own eyes. Simply wonderful!
