An asteroid as "snowman" enthused NASA scientists

An asteroid as "snowman" enthused NASA scientists

Exploration can offer keys to understand how Earth and other planets are formed

Washington: Middle East Online

NASA's New Horizons astronauts have filmed images of the distant Ultima Thule, which seems to resemble something much more common: the Snowman.
The asteroid, which lies billions of kilometers from Earth in the Kieber Belt, was filmed by the New Horizons spacecraft early Monday on a historic flight.
Ultima Thule was the first to be sent by the probe, which began almost 13 years ago. The event, led by lead investigator Alan Stern, shocked the science team with dread and reverence.
"These are two very different things," said Stern. "They are now joined."
Scientists believe that the two bodies, which appear almost spherical and whose size is halved compared to the other, have merged after the melting of the small ice clouds. Eventually, two larger spherical bodies were formed to come closer to the contact, forming the body "in several parts" with a "neck" at their point of contact.
NASA scientists are excited about the exploration of the asteroid Ultima Thuly as they think it can provide key elements to understanding the formation of the Earth and other planets.
They pointed out that the space object seemed to have hardly changed since it was created more than 4.5 billion years ago.

central America