Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed that the dwarf planet Makemake, located in the Kuiper Belt about 45 times farther from the Sun than Earth, is surrounded by faint concentrations of methane gas. Makemake, which measures approximately 1,430 kilometers across and has a small moon named MK2, has long been known to have a reddish-brown surface covered with methane and ethane ice. Using JWST’s advanced infrared instruments, scientists detected the gas through a process called solar-excited fluorescence, which causes the methane to glow faintly under solar radiation. The measured temperature of this gas is extremely low, around -233 degrees Celsius. Researchers are uncertain whether the methane is part of a thin, fragile atmosphere or being ejected from beneath the surface through outgassing, potentially at rates of several hundred kilograms per second. The findings suggest that Makemake is more dynamic than previously thought, challenging the view of it as a frozen, inactive object. This is only the second trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto, observed to produce its own gas. Further JWST observations may help determine the origin of the methane and provide insights into geological activity in the outer solar system, where other distant dwarf planets, such as Eris, may also exhibit similar activity.
Original title: James Webb telescope spies a ‘farting’ dwarf planet with fluorescent gas in the outer solar system
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