Wednesday 30 July 2008

Makemake

The solar system's newest planet. The name is pronounced 'mak-ay, mak-ay' apparently, in honour of Winsor McCay whose Little Nemo strips first speculated on the dwarf planet's existence.

But wait: "unlike Pluto or Eris, Makemake shows little evidence of nitrogen ice on its surface, suggesting that its supply of nitrogen has somehow been depleted over the age of the Solar System." This is evidence of life, surely! Like several Kuiper belt objects, Makemake has a transient atmosphere: heated and subliming, giving the indigienous life time to lock down its nitrogen, then cooling and freezing, preserving them in stasis.

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