This artist impression provided by the European Southern Observatory and the journal Nature, shows the surface of the distant dwarf planet Makemake. This dwarf planet is about two thirds of the size of Pluto, and travels around the Sun in a distant path that lies beyond that of Pluto, but closer to the Sun than Eris, the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System. Astronomers say Pluto's icy more distant sister seems even more alien because they found it doesn't have an atmosphere. Scientists measuring the light signature from Makemake conclude that it doesn't have a global atmosphere. A study in Wednesday's journal Nature said it still may have pockets of atmosphere from methane ice turning into gas.  Makemake is one of our solar system's distant dwarf planets beyond Neptune. (AP Photo/European Southern Observatory/Nature