Scientists study how Kuiper Belt object visited by New Horizons formed
Posted: Sat, Mar 23, 2019, 6:47 PM ET (2247 GMT)
The two lobes of the Kuiper Belt object visited by New Horizons may have gently come together. Scientists studying images and other data returned so far of 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, think that this "contact binary" formed when two bodies, orbiting each other, gradually came together. One of the lobes shows signs that it formed from several distinct smaller bodies. The spacecraft will continue to return data collected during the New Year's Day flyby through next summer.
The two lobes of the Kuiper Belt object visited by New Horizons may have gently come together. Scientists studying images and other data returned so far of 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, think that this "contact binary" formed when two bodies, orbiting each other, gradually came together. One of the lobes shows signs that it formed from several distinct smaller bodies. The spacecraft will continue to return data collected during the New Year's Day flyby through next summer.
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