UPDATE:2014 MU69 is now officially namedArrokoth
Three days after itshistoric flyby , New Horizons proceed to transmit data at about 500 bits per second from the profoundness of the Kuiper Belt , the arena of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune and home to Ultima Thule . The squad has provided an update in a press league .
We now know that Ultima Thule is a link binary , the second visited by a probe after the European Space Agency ’s Rosetta visit to comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko . The two original objective – Ultima ( the big one ) and Thule ( the small-scale one ) – came together in a dense encroachment that formed its now iconic neck .
Theformation modeldeveloped by the team propose the two object significantly slowed down over meter until they managed to gently smush into each other . To do so , something must have taken the momentum aside . The researchers suggest that one or a serial of moons could be creditworthy for this . However , no moon larger than 1.6 klick ( 1 international mile ) or even a ring system have been find yet .
Ultima Thule is also lacking an air . This is not a surprise for such a humble domain , although researchers confirmed that the solar wind does impact the surface , which might have of import consequences .
Another important update might not seem that exciting at first , but it ’s good news . The team has confirmed that Ultima Thule ’s colour is distinctive of other Kuiper Belt Objects ( KBOs ) . Now , one usually amaze excited about exceptional things , but given the fact this will probably be the only KBO read in detail for decades to come , it is very authoritative that it is representative .
The vividness of Ultima and Thule are also the same on average . Again as expect for two object formed together in the Kuiper Belt . The squad has also expel a new simulacrum taken about 38 min after the snowman picture bring out yesterday . They coalesce them in a stereophonic view ( if you havethe violent and light-green glass ) and a little invigoration .
The press conference also give ashoutoutto the artists helping the squad : James Tuttle Keane , Leila Gabasova , and Mallory Kinczyk . Startingtomorrow , the slow - but - steady data transmission will pause for about a workweek . New Horizons will be blot out by the Sun as seen from Earth . It will resume on January 10 and will extend until September 2020 .
" The first geographic expedition of a small Kuiper Belt object and the most distant exploration of any existence in history is now history , but almost all of the information analysis lies in the futurity , " New Horizon ’s Principal Investigator Alan Stern , from the Southwest Research Institute , said in astatement . “Those of us on the scientific discipline squad ca n’t wait to start out to commence excavate into that gem trove . "
