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2014 MU69 has two nearly-spherical lobes and is a contact binary. The collision between the two lobes happened at a low relative velocity, causing little damage to the resulting object. The "neck" between the lobes contains brighter material which appears to be dust that has settled down the slopes that run towards the point of contact.
[Added BBC link -ed]
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New Images Reveal Structure, Color, and Features of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)
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Ten years of rejection slips is nature's way of telling you to stop writing.
-- R. Geis
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:36AM (3 children)
Return to Pluto? Scientists Push for New Mission to Outer Solar System [space.com]
A Return to Pluto and Other Solar System Targets [soylentnews.org]
Pluto Orbiter Mission Could Use Charon Gravity Assists and Explore Elsewhere in the Kuiper Belt [soylentnews.org]
I think we can safely say that a new mission to Uranus and Neptune takes precedence over another Pluto/Kuiper Belt mission, but given the choice, should we go back to Pluto or visit another object, such as Eris [wikipedia.org]?
It's likely that we could send an orbiter, as outlined in the October 2018 story. The use of Falcon Heavy or BFR/Starship could also allow a more massive probe and/or faster travel time.
I'd pick Eris since it would make a great contrast with Pluto. Nearly the same radius/volume, but with higher density. Haumea would be another interesting choice due to its bizarre shape, ring system, and multiple satellites.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:35PM (2 children)
The smart option, in terms of science/$, is multiple identical spacecraft sent to different targets -- let's hit Pluto, Eris, and Haumea.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:09PM (1 child)
That would be nice. I also want assembly line style production of better-than-Hubble space telescopes, to reduce costs. I don't think NASA will adopt the approach anytime soon though.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:57PM
we will never find the derelict alien spacecraft inside neptunes clouds *sigh*