The dwarf planet Makemake as seen by X-Shooter
Abstract
Makemake is one of the brightest known trans-Neptunian objects, as such, it has been widely observed. Nevertheless, its visibility to near-infrared spectrum has not been completely observed in medium-resolving power, aimed at studying in detail the absorption features of CH4 ice. In this paper, we present the spectrum of Makemake observed with X-Shooter at the Very Large Telescope (Chile). We analyse the detected features, measuring their location and depth. Furthermore, we compare Makemake's spectrum with that of Eris, obtained with the same instrument and similar setup, to conclude that the bands of the CH4 ice in both objects show similar shifts.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- October 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/staa2329
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2008.01472
- Bibcode:
- 2020MNRAS.497.5473A
- Keywords:
-
- methods: observational;
- techniques: spectroscopic;
- Kuiper belt: individual: Makemake;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 10 figures, accepted in MNRAS