[26] Its extremely low average temperature, about 40 K (−230 °C), means its surface is covered with methane, ethane, and possibly nitrogen ices.

In July 2008, it was named after Makemake, a creator god in the Rapa Nui mythology of Easter Island, under the expectation by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that it would prove to be a dwarf planet.

[25][28][29][30] Makemake was discovered on March 31, 2005, by a team at the Palomar Observatory, led by Michael E. Brown,[8] and was announced to the public on July 29, 2005.

[31] The earliest known precovery observations of Makemake have been found in photographic plates of the Palomar Observatory's Digitized Sky Survey from January 29, 1955 to May 1, 1998.

It probably escaped detection during the earlier surveys due to its relatively high orbital inclination, and the fact that it was at its farthest distance from the ecliptic at the time of its discovery, in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices.

[41] The symbol was designed by Denis Moskowitz and John T. Whelan; it is a traditional petroglyph of Makemake's face stylized to resemble an 'M'.

[44] Makemake is a classical Kuiper belt object (KBO),[5][b] which means its orbit lies far enough from Neptune to remain stable over the age of the Solar System.

Makemake, however, is a member of the "dynamically hot" class of classical KBOs, meaning that it has a high inclination compared to others in its population.

[48] Makemake is currently visually the second-brightest Kuiper belt object after Pluto,[34] having a March opposition apparent magnitude of 17.0[18] it will pass from its present constellation Coma Berenices to Boötes in November 2028.

[50] Like Pluto, Makemake appears red in the visible spectrum, and significantly redder than the surface of Eris (see colour comparison of TNOs).

[51] Spectral analysis of Makemake's surface revealed that methane must be present in the form of large grains at least one centimetre in size.

Spectroscopic studies, collected from 2005 to 2008 using the William Herschel Telescope (La Palma, Spain) were analyzed together with other spectra in the literature, as of 2014.

They show some degree of variation in the spectral slope, which would be associated with different abundance of the complex organic materials, byproducts of the irradiation of the ices present on the surface of Makemake.

However, the relative ratio of the two dominant icy species, methane, and nitrogen, remains quite stable on the surface revealing a low degree of inhomogeneity in the ice component.

[57] Based on optical observations conducted between 2006 and 2017, Hromakina et al. concluded that Makemake's lightcurve was likely due to heterogeneities across its surface, but that the variations (of the order of 3%) were too small to have been detected spectroscopically.

[58] The results showed that Makemake presently lacks a substantial atmosphere and placed an upper limit of 0.4–1.2 millipascals on the pressure at its surface.

[15] It has been calculated that a flyby mission to Makemake could take just over 16 years using a Jupiter gravity assist, based on a launch date of 24 August 2036.