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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the picture-that! dept.

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]


Original Submission

Related Stories

Animation Shows Rotation of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule) 13 comments

New Movie Shows Ultima Thule from an Approaching New Horizons

This movie shows the propeller-like rotation of Ultima Thule in the seven hours between 20:00 UT (3 p.m. ET) on Dec. 31, 2018, and 05:01 UT (12:01 a.m.) on Jan. 1, 2019, as seen by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard NASA's New Horizons as the spacecraft sped toward its close encounter with the Kuiper Belt object at 05:33 UT (12:33 a.m. ET) on Jan. 1.

The images, which cover about a half of a rotation, help illustrate the solution to Ultima Thule's apparent lack of brightness variations:

The brief video also shows why New Horizons didn't detect any brightness variations from Ultima Thule during the approach phase, a surprising development that initially puzzled the mission team. The lack of such a "light curve" is expected for spherical objects, which don't shift from a viewer's perspective as they rotate, but early data indicated that the 21-mile-long (34 km) Ultima Thule was highly elongated.

As we can now see, it was all about New Horizons' orientation to Ultima Thule. The object's pole of rotation was pointing directly at the approaching spacecraft, so New Horizons didn't see any appreciable changes in the light bouncing off Ultima Thule.

Previously: New Horizons Survives Flyby, Begins Sending Back Data
New Images Reveal Structure, Color, and Features of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)


Original Submission

New Image of 2014 MU69 Reveals Impact Craters or Similar Features 6 comments

New Horizons' Newest and Best-Yet View of Ultima Thule

Obtained with the wide-angle Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) component of New Horizons' Ralph instrument, this image was taken when the KBO was 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers) from the spacecraft, at 05:26 UT (12:26 a.m. EST) on Jan. 1 – just seven minutes before closest approach. With an original resolution of 440 feet (135 meters) per pixel, the image was stored in the spacecraft's data memory and transmitted to Earth on Jan. 18-19. Scientists then sharpened the image to enhance fine detail. (This process – known as deconvolution – also amplifies the graininess of the image when viewed at high contrast.)

The oblique lighting of this image reveals new topographic details along the day/night boundary, or terminator, near the top. These details include numerous small pits up to about 0.4 miles (0.7 kilometers) in diameter. The large circular feature, about 4 miles (7 kilometers) across, on the smaller of the two lobes, also appears to be a deep depression. Not clear is whether these pits are impact craters or features resulting from other processes, such as "collapse pits" or the ancient venting of volatile materials.

MVIC (Ralph) has a lower resolution than LORRI, which should have taken its best images at around 30-35 meters per pixel.

(486958) 2014 MU69.

Also at Spaceflight Now, BBC, and TechCrunch.

Previously: Final Planning for the New Horizons Flyby of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule) Underway
New Horizons Survives Flyby, Begins Sending Back Data
New Images Reveal Structure, Color, and Features of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)
Animation Shows Rotation of 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:53PM (6 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:53PM (#781223) Journal

    A picture is worth 1000 words, but why get a link to that when I can get all 53 words of this contextless summary.

    (Probably something's just broke. Can an editor fix it, please?)

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:59PM (1 child)

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:59PM (#781228)

      What a lovely wikipedia URL (sarcasm implied)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69 [wikipedia.org]

      The conspiracy theorists are worked up about this one showing a "Mayan Carved Face" on the little one, kinda like that face on Mars that was being covered up.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#/media/File:Ultima_Thule_original_vs_sharpened.jpg [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:42AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:42AM (#781272) Homepage Journal

        It looks like the Spanish Painting of Jesus. The one they turned into Modern Art. Some people laughed. Some cried. And so many people said, "oh, it doesn't look like Jesus, it looks horrible -- they hired a Retard." And possibly they did -- the I.Q. test will prove it, one way or the other. But, it turned out to be a very smart move. Because that Painting is now a HUGE tourist draw!!

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:23PM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:23PM (#781238) Journal

      I subbed it during the live press conference.

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      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:40PM (1 child)

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:40PM (#781244) Journal

        I can appreciate the haste and how that'd lead to the lack of links, but you could have mentioned the context that there was a press release. Sorry if I'm being demanding, I know subbing is not paid work or anything. But it seemed particularly low quality this time.

        • (Score: 2) by insanumingenium on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:09AM

          by insanumingenium (4824) on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:09AM (#781256) Journal

          I rather applaud timely reporting, it isn't often I read something first on SN.

          Given that the first image from the flyby was already on the frontpage, I was eagerly awaiting this nicer photo, I wasn't personally lacking context. Without that context it would have been confusing as hell.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by pkrasimirov on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:14AM

        by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Thursday January 03 2019, @12:14AM (#781260)

        We need a mod +1 Thank you.

  • (Score: 2) by Snow on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:29PM (1 child)

    by Snow (1601) on Wednesday January 02 2019, @11:29PM (#781241) Journal

    The pictures of Pluto blew me away. Can't wait for the detailed pictures of this thing, although I'm guessing it won't be as cool looking as Pluto was.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:04AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:04AM (#781289)

    The claim the two lobes look "nearly spherical" may be premature. For one, the bigger lobe looks flat to me if you flip the image upside down (as I saw it in another article). And in earlier on-approach photos the whole thing looked more linear, like a Cheese Puff, but later gradually looked more lobe-like. It could be rotating on 2 axises (axi?). If the bigger lobe is flat, that could explain the early photos, as the probe saw the "flat" angle back then. But those were very blurry (small). We'll see...

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:06AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:06AM (#781292) Journal

    The occultation measurements were nearly spot on:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20170808-MU69Chart.jpg [wikipedia.org]
    http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Press-Conferences/2019-01-02/960x540/Slide09.jpeg [jhuapl.edu]

    This was probably one of the finest uses of occultations ever (considering that the observations were confirmed within a couple of years and helped plan a safe flyby), and will likely lead to more amateur observations:

    https://occultations.org/ [occultations.org]

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:12AM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:12AM (#781295) Journal

    What's the speck on the left? Is it a satellite?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:First_color_image_of_Ultima_Thule_(composite_crop).png [wikipedia.org]

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    • (Score: 2) by rts008 on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:42AM (1 child)

      by rts008 (3001) on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:42AM (#781308)

      "That's no moon!"

      All jokes aside, if it is comprised of two bodies that had mild contact, then it is not surprising that debris is still gravitationly bound to the pair of asteroids. It is probably fated to join the clump, maybe it got knocked outwards from the collision, and is just now getting close to merging. Disclaimer: pure speculation on my part. :-)

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:56AM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:56AM (#781316) Journal

        Well, there was this kind of talk previously:

        Tiny Moon Possibly Orbiting 2014 MU69 [soylentnews.org]

        The moon, if it exists, might be about three miles [~5 km] wide, circling at a distance of about 120 miles [~190 km] from MU69, completing an orbit every two to four weeks, estimated Marc W. Buie, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.

        But it turned out to be nothing, apparently:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#2017_occultations [wikipedia.org]

        A preliminary analysis of all collected data suggested that 2014 MU69 was accompanied by an orbiting moonlet about 200-300 km away. It was later realized, however, that an error with the data processing software resulted in a shift in the apparent location of the target. After accounting for the bug, the short dip observed on 10 July is now considered to be a detection of the primary body.

        Could a significant (100+ meters?) satellite have gone undetected during the occultation campaign? We'll see. The speck thing seemed like an obvious candidate, but I didn't hear any discussion of it (I missed some bits of the live stream).

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    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by rts008 on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:48AM (1 child)

      by rts008 (3001) on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:48AM (#781311)

      Apologies for the double posting, but it just occurred to me that I have not expressed my thanks and admiration to you for all that you do for us here.

      Accurate info, filling in the blanks, timely edits, etc....A tip o' the hat to you, good Takyon.

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:55AM (3 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:55AM (#781315)

    the typical "do you know this person?" you get on the news. Amazing how something that takes hours to transmit has such better resolution than the security cam shitty image of the porch pirate that just stole your 3 month supply of cat litter.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:00AM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:00AM (#781319) Journal

      I'm pretty sure the image from the shitty security cam has a much higher resolution than 35-140 meters per pixel, and the security system does not cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:54PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:54PM (#781486)

        wat? they took a picture of kitty litter from orbit?

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:36AM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:36AM (#781338) Journal

    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.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:35PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:35PM (#781458)

      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)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:09PM (#781465) Journal

        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.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:57PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 03 2019, @02:57PM (#781489)

          we will never find the derelict alien spacecraft inside neptunes clouds *sigh*

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