Space & Astronomy

Surprising discovery finds evidence of activity on distant dwarf planet

By T.K. Randall
September 29, 2025 ·  2 comments

Image: Makemake and Its Moon (Artist's Concept)
Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble, and A. Parker and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The cold, distant reaches of the solar system are perhaps not the first place you'd ever think to look for active planetary bodies, yet scientists this week have revealed the discovery of something altogether unexpected concerning a dwarf planet situated far out beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Known as Makemake, this tiny world, which is around 60% the size of Pluto, was first discovered in 2005 and is believed to be an extremely cold, icy world with surface temperatures of -230C.

Now, following new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have determined that this seemingly dormant world may be a lot more active than previously believed.

What they found was the presence of methane gas - a strong hint of dynamic processes."The Webb telescope has now revealed that methane is also present in the gas phase above the surface, a finding that makes Makemake even more fascinating," said study author Silvia Protopapa.

"It shows that Makemake is not an inactive remnant of the outer solar system, but a dynamic body where methane ice is still evolving."

The gas could indicate the presence of an atmosphere on Makemake or perhaps cryovolcanism.

If there is an atmosphere, however, it is extremely tenuous at 100 billion times below Earth's atmospheric pressure.

"Future Webb observations at higher spectral resolution will help determine whether the methane arises from a thin bound atmosphere or from plume-like outgassing," said study co-author Ian Wong.

Source: Space.com | Comments (2)

Tags: Dwarf Planet