Ultima Thule was discovered in 2014 (and is formally known as 2014 MU69)
Artist's impression of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flying past Ultima Thule, a Kuiper Belt object officially named 2014 MU69. Chosen by the mission team
Posted on 09/24/2018 12:24:34 PM PDT by ETL
Don't sleep on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.
The history-making probe, which famously zoomed past Pluto in July 2015, is closing in on its next flyby target, a frigid chunk of ice and rock about 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) from Earth dubbed Ultima Thule.
New Horizons is now just 80 million miles (130 million km) from Ultima Thule, mission members said Wednesday (Sept. 19). That's less than the distance from Earth to the sun (about 93 million miles).
[Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures]
The spacecraft has already begun photographing Ultima Thule for navigation purposes and remains on track to cruise within a mere 2,200 miles (3,540 km) of Ultima in the wee hours of Jan. 1, 2019. The data New Horizons gathers during that encounter hshould shed considerable light on the solar system's early days, said mission principal investigator Alan Stern.
"Ultima Thule was formed at the origin of our solar system, and it's been in this deep freeze ever since," Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said during a webcast event Wednesday.
"Going to it is like making an archaeological dig into the history of our solar system," he added. "We've never been to anything like this."
Ultima Thule was discovered in 2014 (and is formally known as 2014 MU69). The object's surface is reddish and dark — about as reflective as potting soil, Stern said. And Ultima Thule appears to be about 23 miles (37 km) wide.
But the object remains shrouded in mystery. Its composition and shape are unknown, for example, as is its precise orbit. Researchers don't know for sure if Ultima Thule has any moons or debris rings or even if it's a single object. Indeed, Ultima may well consist of a pair of close-orbiting bodies, New Horizons team members have said.
The upcoming flyby will clear up such questions. But pulling off the epic encounter won't be easy, Stern stressed Wednesday.
Ultima Thule lies 1 billion miles (1.6 km) beyond Pluto and is much smaller than the dwarf planet. New Horizons is 3 years older now, with lower power levels. And the probe will attempt to get much closer to Ultima on Jan. 1 than it ever got to Pluto. (The 2015 encounter had a close-approach distance of 7,800 miles, or 12,550 km.)
"Everything about this flyby is tougher," Stern said.
New Horizons will have one shot at the flyby, which will occur as the probe is zooming along at about 32,000 mph (51,500 km/h). Stern said he thinks the team and the spacecraft are up to the challenge. But, as in the rest of life, there are no guarantees, especially given the boundary-pushing nature of this mission.
"It's really an adventure of exploration," Stern said.
The $720 million New Horizons mission launched in January 2006, tasked with lifting the veil on Pluto. The Ultima Thule encounter is the centerpiece of the probe's extended mission, which also includes the study from afar of a variety of other objects in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune's orbit.
Artist's impression of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flying past Ultima Thule, a Kuiper Belt object officially named 2014 MU69. Chosen by the mission team
Better be on the look out for humans from a lost mission; Space 1999 reference.
It is going to Greenland?
What are the protocols for proton storms?
Not the place to be immortal.
That episode was on last week.
Brian Blessed going along?
(486958) 2014 MU69, previously designated PT1 and 1110113Y, and nicknamed Ultima Thule by the New Horizons team,[3] is a trans-Neptunian object from the Kuiper belt located in the outermost regions of the Solar System.
It was discovered by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope on 26 June 2014.[2] The irregular shaped classical Kuiper belt object is a suspected contact binary or close binary system and measures approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) in diameter.
In August 2015, this object was selected as the next target for the New Horizons probe shortly after it had visited Pluto. The flyby will occur on 1 January 2019, which will make it the farthest object in the Solar System ever to be visited by a spacecraft.[4] After four course changes in October and November 2015, New Horizons is on course toward 2014 MU69.[12][13]
On 13 March 2018, NASA announced that (486958) 2014 MU69 would receive the nickname Ultima Thule. The decision was based on the results of a public voting campaign.[14] Ultima Thule /ˈθuːliː/, or Ultima for short, serves as an unofficial name for the object until the IAU decides on an official name at some point after the flyby.[3]
Discovery
On 26 June 2014, 2014 MU69 was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope during a preliminary survey to find a suitable Kuiper belt object for the New Horizons probe to fly by. The discovery required the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, because ground based observations had not found a Kuiper belt object in the zone of space that can be accessed by New Horizons.
With an apparent magnitude of nearly 27, 2014 MU69 is too faint for all but the most powerful telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope is also capable of very precise astrometry and hence a reliable orbit determination.[11][15][16]
Designation
When 2014 MU69 was first observed, it was labelled 1110113Y,[17] and nicknamed "11", for short.[6][4] Its existence as a potential target of the New Horizons probe was announced by NASA in October 2014[18][19] and it was unofficially designated as "Potential Target 1", or PT1.
Its official designation, 2014 MU69, was assigned by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) in March 2015 after sufficient orbital information was gathered.[4] After further observations pinning down its orbit, it was officially given the permanent minor planet number (486958) on 12 March 2017 (M.P.C. 103886).[20]
Its provisional designation, 2014 MU69, indicates that it was the 1745th object discovered during the second half of June 2014. A proper name for the object will be selected in due course,[21] after the flyby when its nature is better known.[14] NASA invited suggestions from the public on a nickname to be used in the meantime.[14]
On 13 March 2018, NASA has announced that (486958) 2014 MU69 will be nicknamed Ultima Thule, after a distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world". The popular campaign wrapped up on December 6, 2017.
The campaign involved 115,000 participants from around the world, who nominated some 34,000 names. Of those, 37 names reached the ballot for voting and were evaluated for popularity – this included eight names suggested by the New Horizons team and 29 nominated by the public.
The team then narrowed its selection to the 29 publicly nominated names and gave preference to names near the top of the polls. Ultima Thule was nominated by about 40 members of the public and one of the highest vote-getters among all name nominees.[3]
Characteristics
In 2014, the object was first estimated to have a diameter of 30–45 km (20–30 mi) based on its brightness and distance.[5] Observations in 2017 concluded that 2014 MU69 is no more than 30 km (20 mi) long and very elongated.
It may actually be a close or contact binary.[10] An occultation of a star on July 17, 2017 revealed a two-lobed shape, with diameters of 20 and 18 km (12 and 11 miles), respectively.[9] This means that 2014 MU69 is likely a primordial binary in the Kuiper Belt.[clarification needed][22]
Its orbital period around the Sun is slightly more than 295 years and it has a low inclination and low eccentricity compared to other objects in the Kuiper belt.[23] These orbital properties mean that it is a cold classical Kuiper belt object which is unlikely to have undergone significant perturbations.[5]
Observations in May and July 2015 as well as in July and October 2016 greatly reduced the uncertainties in the orbit.[11][2] The updated orbit parameters are available in the MPC database.
2014 MU69 has a red spectrum, and is the smallest Kuiper belt object to have its colors measured.[24]
Between 25 June and 4 July 2017, the Hubble Space Telescope spent 24 orbits observing 2014 MU69, in an effort to both determine its rotation period and further reduce the orbit uncertainty.[25] First results show that the brightness of 2014 MU69 varies by less than 20 percent as it rotates.[9]
This places significant constraints on the axis ratio of 2014 MU69 to <1.14 assuming an equatorial view. Together with the fact that its shape has been shown to be very irregular,[10] the small amplitude indicates that its pole is pointed towards Earth.
This means that the timing of the New Horizons fly-by does not need to be adjusted to look at the "larger" axis of the object, simplifying the engineering of the fly-by significantly. The small amplitude makes it difficult to uniquely identify the rotation period at this time. Distant satellites of 2014 MU69 have been excluded to a depth of >29th magnitude.[26]
Ultima Thule sounds like a hot Danish actress.
But the object remains shrouded in mystery. Its composition and shape are unknown, for example, as is its precise orbit. Researchers don’t know for sure if Ultima Thule has any moons or debris rings or even if it’s a single object. Indeed, Ultima may well consist of a pair of close-orbiting bodies, New Horizons team members have said.
...
Using multiple telescopes, scientists cleverly measured the shadow as it passed in front of a star.
They have one thing in common - they're all Atheists. Not a one of these people ever dare mention the possibility of creationism by God.
Any time I see any of their noggins, I turn the channel.
Or a new style roof rack.
*ping*
Ultima thule is a chouinard backpack
I have no idea what you’re referring to.
"Dream-Land" -- Edgar Allan Poe
Do you mean it's shaped like a backpack?
Thank you for posting these articles. Back in early 2000’s it was great when these types of articles got posted. Lots of very knowledgeable freepers would chime in and I could count on learning something new beyond the smartass comments of today.
Keep up the great work.
Would you like to be on the APOD ping list?
“Going to it is like making an archaeological dig into the history of our solar system,” he added. “We’ve never been to anything like this.”
Wait???
We’ve been living on an “object” that supposedly was created during that same period of time, or around 4 billion years ago. We’ve already been discovering and investigating and exploring and studying and documenting and actually living on an “object” like the “Ultima Thule”, but, ours is just bigger and contains air and oceans and life-forms of all kinds.
But, it’s okay to be hyperbolic about something that far away, but, it’s basically the same kind of building blocks that went towards creation of our planet.
[singing] ...it's not on any chart, you must find it in your heart...[/singing]
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.
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