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New Horizons Target 2014 MU69 May be a "Contact Binary"

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 09 2017, @07:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the or-just-an-extreme-prolate-spheroid dept.

takyon writes:

2014 MU69, which New Horizons will fly by on January 1, 2019, appears to have an elongated shape or may be comprised of two objects:

Based on the occultation data, 2014 MU69 definitely appears to have an odd shape. In a press release, NASA officials said that it's either football shaped or a type of object called a contact binary. The size of MU69 or its components also can be determined from these data. It appears to be no more than 20 miles (30 km) long, or, if a binary, each about 9-12 miles (15-20 km) in diameter.

By comparison, Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko consists of a large lobe measuring about 4.1 × 3.3 × 1.8 km and a small lobe of about 2.6 × 2.3 × 1.8 km.

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday August 09 2017, @10:25PM

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday August 09 2017, @10:25PM (#551333) Journal
    You don't think contact binaries can be formed from dirty snowballs?
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