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NASA's New-Horizons Interplanetary Research Station sent the first clear image of the farthest solar system to have explored the spacecraft – the ultimate Thule asteroid
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In the published photo, you can see, that an asteroid is like a snowman, this is called a "double contact", an object formed as a result of the collision of two smaller objects. The same form, for example, has the nucleus of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
This picture was taken by New Horizons when it was approached by ######################################################################################### 39; Ultima Thule, the farthest object of the solar system ever studied by the spacecraft. 19659003] New photos, in which the shape of the object is clearly visible, are taken approximately one hour before the maximum approach, at a distance of 27 000 km. The "snowman" has a height of about 31 kilometers. The largest sphere (called "Ultima") is 19 kilometers in diameter, the smallest ("Tula") – 12 kilometers. Scientists believe that they converge and unite at the very beginning of the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. The speed of their collision was such that the car in an accident at such a speed could only break the bumper. At the point of contact, we can see a "neck" with a relatively light surface, which can indicate a "young" substance. The rotation period of the object is about 15 hours.
New Horizons – the first spaceship flying over Pluto nearby. With the data collected in a few days, astronomers discovered that there were cryovolcanoes, glaciers, mountain ranges and signs from the suburbs of Pluto. They also saw its Charon, Nits, Hydra and Kerber satellites for the first time in the details. After the 2015 flight, mission officials decided between 2016 and 2021 to study the Kuiper Belt, located at a distance of 30 to 55 astronomical units from the Sun and containing the remaining bodies after the formation of the solar system . The main goal of the research was the MU69 or Ultima Thule 2014 (Ultima Thule – the name was given in honor of the mythical island of northern Europe in ancient literature and cartography and medieval).
This is an transneptone object from the Kuiper Belt, which has been revolving around the sun for 295 years. The station flew 140 seconds after MU69 2014 on 1 January 2019 at 0533 GMT. The minimum distance from the facility was about 3,500 km.
Photo: NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI
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