Long-term photometric monitoring of the dwarf planet (136472) Makemake

T. Hromakina, I. N. Belskaya, Yu. N. Krugly, V. G. Shevchenko, J. L. Ortiz, P. Santos-Sanz, R. Duffard, N. Morales, A. Thirouin, R. Ya. Inasaridze

13 more authors

V. R. Ayvazian, V. T. Zhuzhunadze, D. Perna, V. V. Rumyantsev, I. V. Reva, A. V. Serebryanskiy, Alexey V. Sergeyev, I. E. Molotov, V. A. Voropaev, S. F. Velichko, R. Inasaridze, V. Rumyantsev, Igor Evgenevich Molotov

Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2019

Closed access Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/201935274
Data confidence 85 high
How this score is calculated

It is built from checkable properties of the record itself: whether the article has a DOI, how many independent sources confirmed its data, whether the required fields are filled in, and how recent the latest confirmation is. Disagreement between sources and a missing identifier lower it. A value of 80 or above means the record was published without further checking; 60 to 79 means it is published at reduced confidence, with a manual check advisable. A record verified by an editor by hand is never pushed below 90 by a recalculation. This scores our data about the article, not the article itself.

Abstract

Aims. We studied the rotational properties of the dwarf planet Makemake. Methods. The photometric observations were carried out at different telescopes between 2006 and 2017. Most of the measurements were acquired in BVRI broad-band filters of a standard Johnson-Cousins photometric system. Results. We found that Makemake rotates more slowly than was previously reported. A possible lightcurve asymmetry suggests a double-peaked period of P = 22.8266 ± 0.0001 h. A small peak-to-peak lightcurve amplitude in R-filter A = 0.032 ± 0.005 mag implies an almost spherical shape or near pole-on orientation. We also measured BVRI colours and the R-filter phase-angle slope and revised the absolute magnitudes. The absolute magnitude of Makemake has remained unchanged since its discovery in 2005. No direct evidence of a newly discovered satellite was found in our photometric data; however, we discuss the possible existence of another larger satellite.