Asteroid Ultima Thule was the most remote object ever studied by people
Source:One of the first important news 2019 was the passage of the New Horizons probe past the Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, also referred to as Ultima Thule. He became the most distant object ever studied in humans — at the moment it is at a distance of 6.6 billion kilometers from Earth. The object makes one revolution around the Sun in 295 years, contains a body that can help in uncovering the mysteries of the formation of the Solar system. Photo Ultima Thule revealed the shape of the object and the nature of its rotation, and in the future will be able to tell you about its geological features.
The spacecraft New Horizons was launched in January 2006 and over the years managed to visit the most remote corners of the Solar system. In February 2007 it flew past Jupiter, and in the summer of 2015 for several months collecting data about Pluto. Then he traveled to the Kuiper Belt where is located a mysterious asteroid Ultima Thule.
The vehicle passed the object 8:33 am in Moscow for the event . During the 140-second span at a distance of 3,500 km side camera LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) has taken photographs that proved that the Ultima Thule is a highly elongated object resembling a dumbbell. According to preliminary data, its dimensions are 32 by 16 km, and two large parts connected by a jumper. It is believed that it is a close binary system.
The Researchers assumed that the object is surrounded by a cloud of dust. The reason for this assumption was the lack of brightness variations. It turned out that the reason was the nature of the rotation — it looks like a propeller, and the axis of rotation is pointing straight at the probe. It is assumed that the asteroid surface is covered with rock and ice, and the color is close to red. This was previously testified to the data of the Hubble telescope.
Flight by Ultima Thule has been difficult for New Horisons. The NASA did not know the exact location of the object, and the possible presence of nearby moons could cause machine damage. Also, researchers have difficulty in the management of the probe due to lack of lighting and low-speed data transfer.
New Horizons will send data about the Ultima Thule until autumn 2019. At the same time the unit will explore the other 30 Kuiper belt objects.
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