Short answers, pulled from the story.
Makemake was discovered on the 31st of March 2005 by American astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz using the 1.22 m Samuel Oschin telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. Brown identified the object in the discovery images on the 3rd of April 2005 after noting its exceptional brightness.
Makemake is named after the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the myths of the Rapa Nui people native to Easter Island. The name was chosen because it satisfied the IAU's rule that classical Kuiper belt objects be named after creator deities, while also preserving the object's informal connection to Easter, which inspired its original nickname "Easterbunny". The IAU approved the name in July 2008.
Makemake has one known moon, provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2. It was discovered on the 27th of April 2015 in Hubble Space Telescope images and has a diameter of approximately 175 km, an orbital period of 18 days, and a semi-major axis of 22,250 km.
Planetary scientists suspect Makemake may harbor a subsurface liquid water ocean sustained by radionuclides and primordial heat from its rocky core. JWST spectroscopy detected a deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio of 2.9 in Makemake's methane, which scientists interpret as evidence for geochemical reactions in subsurface water at temperatures around 150 degrees Celsius.
Makemake's surface is dominated by frozen methane, with smaller amounts of ethane, ethylene, acetylene, and high-mass alkanes such as propane. It has a geometric albedo of 82 percent, making it more reflective than Pluto. Dark organic compounds called tholins give Makemake a reddish-brown color, though fresh methane ice keeps the overall surface bright.
No spacecraft has visited Makemake up close. The New Horizons spacecraft observed it from distances of 52 AU in October 2007 and 70 AU in January 2017. Studies published in 2011 and 2024 have outlined flyby trajectories with optimal launch dates around August 2036 and September 2048 using Jupiter gravity assists.