NASA reveals Ultima Thule ice world

The first photos taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft of Ultima Thule, the most distant object ever visited by humanity, reveal that the icy world resembles a snowman


Jan 2019: New Horizons encounters Ultima Thule 6.5 billion km from Earth

NEW HORIZONS FLYBYS
Mercury
Venus
Jan 2006: Launched from Earth
Mars
Feb 2007 Jupiter
Jun 2008 Saturn
Mar 2011 Uranus
Aug 2014 Neptune
Jul 2015 Pluto

Kuiper Belt

Kuiper Belt: Band of dwarf planets, space rocks and icy debris that holds clues as to how all
planetary bodies came into being some 4.6 billion years ago

Ultima Thule (2014 MU69): Single object with two connected lobes, named Thule and Ultima, that became
joined during birth of Solar System 

Thule
Ultima
33km 21 miles

Lower-resolution colour image (left) mapped onto higher-resolution
black-and-white image (centre) to produce combination (right)


Source: NASA 
Picture: NASA/JHU-APL/SWRI 
© GRAPHIC NEWS