Science

NASA Says Ultima Thule Actually Looks Like A Pancake And A Walnut

February 15, 2019 02:31·
NASA Says Ultima Thule Actually Looks Like A Pancake And A Walnut

NASA Says Ultima Thule Actually Looks Like A Pancake And A Walnut

New pictures taken by the New Horizons spacecraft at a different angle as it raced away from Ultima Thule at 31,000mph (50,000 kmh) reveal it is not spherical. Initially, it was considered to be round objects, but the new view has shown is more squashed.

It was called the snowman as Ultima Thule resembled two spheres sitting on top of each other but those have now been defunct due to the new images.

"Seeing more data has significantly changed our view", said Southwest Research Institute's Alan Stern, the lead scientist. The most important aspect of this change in the structure is the fact that scientists cannot figure out how something of this shape can exist in space.

The icy world of Ultima Thule is roughly 20 miles long and is the most distant world ever studied by mankind - a billion miles beyond Pluto. "We've never seen something like this orbiting the Sun", he added.

He said: "Nothing quite like this has ever been captured in imagery". "It would be closer to reality to say Ultima Thule's shape is flatter, like a pancake".

However, new photos captured by the New Horizons spacecraft have revealed it is flatter on the back side than previously thought.

Now, scientists are revising that analogy because of a new image series transmitted to Earth.

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The central frame of the new sequence of images was taken at 12:42 a.m.

Ultima Thule- officially known by decidedly the less-snappy name "2014 MU69" - is the farthest object ever visited by spacecraft. New Horizons zipped past it at high speed, after becoming the first visitor to Pluto in 2015.

It is also the first object in the Kuiper Belt - a region on the edge of our solar system which is part of the original disk from which the sun and planets formed - to be observed up close.

The name "Ultima Thule" was chosen through a nickname campaign hosted by the New Horizons team.

A quick look at Wikipedia will tell you the phrase Ultima Thule was used by the Romans to refer to a northern land just outside the bounds of the known world.

New photos from the New Horizons spacecraft offer a new perspective on the small cosmic body 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometres ) away.

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