NASA has released a detailed image of the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft.
It comes after the space agency’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past the 31km-long space rock in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Currently lying a billion miles beyond Pluto, the Ultima Thule is officially the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft.
The new images, released this afternoon, reveal the object as a “contact binary” made up of two distinct spheres.
The team behind the flyby have dubbed the larger sphere, measuring 19km across, ‘Ultima.’
The second sphere, dubbed ‘Thule,’ measures 14km across.
Meet #UltimaThule! What you’re seeing is the 1st contact binary ever explored by a spacecraft. This object, which we can now see is a contact binary, used to be 2 separate objects that are now bound together. Watch for more @NASANewHorizons science results https://t.co/ZuxLDtzW9c pic.twitter.com/uF9VfgN4Fh
— NASA (@NASA) January 2, 2019
This afternoon, NASA officials said they "could not be happier" with the latest image of the "snowman."
It said the shape came about after two “separate objects” joined together and noting that the image showed “the first contact binary ever explored by spacecraft.”
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory – which designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft on behalf of NASA – said the spheres would have originally collided “no faster than two cars in a fender-bender.”
The lab said it is likely they have been joined together for 99% of the solar system’s existence.
THIS is #UltimaThule.
The image taken by @NASANewHorizons - shown in its original version (left) & sharpened version (on right) - is the most detailed image of the farthest object ever explored by a spacecraft. https://t.co/gItPsMvbPC @NASA pic.twitter.com/i7rDBURNrw
— Johns Hopkins APL (@JHUAPL) January 2, 2019
"New Horizons is like a time machine, taking us back to the birth of the solar system,” said Jeff Moore, New Horizons Geology and Geophysics team lead.
“We are seeing a physical representation of the beginning of planetary formation, frozen in time.
“Studying Ultima Thule is helping us understand how planets form — both those in our own solar system and those orbiting other stars in our galaxy.”
Data from the New Year's Day flyby will continue to arrive in over the coming weeks and months – with much higher resolution images expected.
It is expected to complete the return of all science data within the next 20 months.
#UltimaThule used to be 2 separate objects. It likely formed over time as a rotating cloud of small, icy bodies started to combine. Eventually, 2 larger bodies remained & slowly spiraled closer until they touched, forming the bi-lobed object we see today: https://t.co/ZuxLDtzW9c pic.twitter.com/FwWDAaAdey
— NASA (@NASA) January 2, 2019
