Latest Image of Ultima Thule Reveals New Details

The latest image of Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 (Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI) Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, NASA’s New Horizon’s spacecraft flew past the Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69, more commonly known as Ultima Thule. Now, the best image of the object to-date has reached Earth, revealing previously unseen details on the peanut-shaped space rock. This latest image was taken with the wide-angle Multicolor Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) component of the spacecraft’s Ralph instrument. The camera snapped the shot when the spacecraft was just 4,200 miles (6,700 km) from the object, at 12:26 a.m. EST, just seven minutes before the craft reached closest approach on Jan 1. This newest image had an original resolution of 440 feet (135 m) per pixel. After beaming back to Earth between around Jan. 18, scientists enhanced the details of the image to make it as clear and sharp as possible. Though, this process ...