Makemake, the Massive Dwarf Planet of Solar System Has No Atmosphere

Astronomers from Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Spain in the third week of November 2012 discovered that the distant drawf planet called Makemake, which is 2/3rd that of Pluto in size does not have atmosphere. Planet makemake revolves around sun in its distant route which lies away from Pluto. This distance is closer to sun than Eris’, the massive dwarf planet in entire solar system.

In the previous observations it was found that Makemake was quite like the fellow dwarf planets which compelled some astronomers to believe that it had atmosphere, maybe like that of Pluto. But in the new study it was discovered that Makemake does not have significant atmosphere. The team that carried out the study combined the observations from three telescopes- New Technology Telescope, Very Large Telescope and TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) at European Southern Observatory's La Silla and Paranal observing sites in Chile.

The new observations of the team will add many more details to discover about Makemake. The details will include finding the size more precisely and estimating the density of the planet.