Tag Archive for 'KBO'

This image from NASA’s New Horizons probe shows a Kuiper Belt object called Ultima Thule. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Sends Detailed Image of Ultima Thule

Jan 25, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back the most detailed image yet of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69). This image from NASA’s...

These raw images were used to create an animation demonstrating the propeller-like rotation of Ultima Thule in the seven hours between 3 p.m. EST (8 p.m. GMT) on December 31, 2018, and 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. GMT) on January 1, 2019, as seen by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Amazing NASA Video Shows Ultima Thule Approach

Jan 16, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft took a series of images between 3 p.m. EST (8 p.m. GMT) on December 31, 2018, and 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. GMT) on January...

This image taken by New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the spacecraft. It was taken at 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. GMT) on January 1, 2019, just 30 minutes before closest approach from a range of 18,000 miles (28,000 km). Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Ultima Thule: Preliminary Science Results from New Horizons

Jan 4, 2019 by News Staff

The science team of NASA’s New Horizons mission has unveiled potentially significant discoveries about a Kuiper Belt object known as Ultima Thule. This...

Ultima Thule is Contact Binary, New Horizons Team Says

Jan 3, 2019 by News Staff

New images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft — taken from as close as 17,000 miles (27,000 km) on approach — revealed Ultima Thule as a...

Ultima Thule. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Returns First Clear Photo of Ultima Thule

Jan 2, 2019 by News Staff

NASA has released the first image from the historic Ultima Thule flyby taken with New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera. Ultima...

Just over 24 hours before its closest approach to Ultima Thule, New Horizons has sent back the first images that begin to reveal Ultima Thule’s shape. Image-sharpening techniques combining multiple images show that Ultima Thule is elongated, perhaps twice as long as it is wide. The spacecraft was approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million km) from Ultima Thule when this image was taken on December 30, 2018. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Arrives at Ultima Thule

Jan 1, 2019 by News Staff

After a journey of 13 years and 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km), NASA’s New Horizons probe had a close encounter with a Kuiper Belt object known as...

Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Alex Parker.

New Horizons to Reach Ultima Thule on New Year’s Day: Watch Live

Dec 31, 2018 by News Staff

On January 1st, 2019, at 12:33 a.m. EST (5:33 a.m. GMT), NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will fly past a Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69 (nicknamed...

An artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering Ultima Thule. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Alex Parker.

New Horizons Team Puzzled by Lack of Light Curve from Ultima Thule

Dec 25, 2018 by News Staff

Over the past three months, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has been taking images to measure the brightness of its next flyby target — a Kuiper...

New Horizons Sees No Moons or Rings around Ultima Thule, Opts for Primary Flyby Path

Dec 19, 2018 by News Staff

After several weeks of sensitive searches for rings, small moons and other potential hazards around 2014 MU69, a Kuiper belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule,...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was taken just 33 hours before the December 2 course-correction maneuver that fine-tuned New Horizons’ trajectory for its New Year’s flyby. At left is the full LORRI image with a yellow circle centered on the location of Ultima Thule. Unlike the LORRI images taken in August through October 2018, the object is now evident among the many background stars even without further processing. Nevertheless, Ultima Thule really stands out after subtracting the background stars; the region within the yellow box has been expanded in the star-subtracted version of the image on the right. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Captures New Images of Ultima Thule

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its next flyby target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, also known as...

The figure on the left is a composite image produced by adding 48 different exposures from News Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, each with an exposure time of 29.967 seconds, taken on August 16, 2018. The predicted position of 2014 MU69 is at the center of the yellow box, and is indicated by the yellow crosshairs, just above and left of a nearby star that is approximately 17 times brighter than 2014 MU69. At right is a magnified view of the region in the yellow box, after subtraction of a background star field ‘template’ taken by LORRI in September 2017 before it could detect the object itself. 2014 MU69 is clearly detected in this star-subtracted image and is very close to where scientists predicted, indicating to the team that New Horizons is being targeted in the right direction. The many artifacts in the star-subtracted image are caused either by small mis-registrations between the new LORRI images and the template, or by intrinsic brightness variations of the stars. At the time of these observations, 2014 MU69 was 107 million miles (172 million km) from the New Horizons spacecraft and 4 billion miles (6.5 billion km) from the Sun. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI.

New Horizons Spots Its Next Flyby Target: Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69

Aug 31, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has made its first detection of its next target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, more than four months ahead of its...

This artist’s impression shows 2004 EW95, the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial Solar System. 2004 EW95 likely formed in the main asteroid belt and has been flung billions of miles from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Find First Carbon-Rich Asteroid in Kuiper Belt: 2004 EW95

May 9, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that a small Kuiper Belt object called 2004 EW95 is a carbonaceous (carbon-rich) asteroid — the first...

This image, taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on December 5, 2017, shows the Kuiper Belt object 2012 HZ84. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Captures Record-Breaking Images

Feb 14, 2018 by News Staff

With its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), New Horizons has observed several objects in the Kuiper Belt, a distant region of icy debris that extends...

2014 MU69, the next flyby target of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, might have a moon. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI.

Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 Might Have a Small Moon

Dec 29, 2017 by News Staff

The upcoming encounter of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft with 2014 MU69 will be an important and rare opportunity for close-up study of a Kuiper Belt...

A planetary mass object the size of Mars would be sufficient to produce the observed perturbations in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: Heather Roper / Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona.

Mars-to-Earth-Mass Planet May Lurk in Outer Solar System: Planet 10

Jun 22, 2017 by News Staff

An unknown Mars-to-Earth-mass planet may lurk in the outer reaches of the Solar System, according to new research on the orbits of minor planets to be...

This Hubble image shows a moon orbiting the dwarf planet 2007 OR10. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kiss, Konkoly Observatory / J. Stansberry, STScI.

Astronomers Discover Moon Orbiting Dwarf Planet 2007 OR10

May 22, 2017 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Kepler and Herschel space observatories, astronomers have discovered a new moon in our Solar System,...

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Halfway from Pluto to Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69

Apr 4, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

Continuing on its path through the outer regions of our Solar System, New Horizons has now traveled half the distance from the dwarf planet Pluto to its...

This artist’s impression shows a massive, comet-like object falling towards a white dwarf. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Z. Levy, STScI.

Hubble Finds Extrasolar Kuiper Belt Object Ripped Apart by White Dwarf

Feb 9, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have found the first evidence of the remains of a Kuiper Belt object analog scattered around a white dwarf star. The research was published...

Scientists Determine Color of Kuiper Belt Objects JR1 and MU69

Oct 19, 2016 by Natali Anderson

According to a team of researchers led by Southwest Research Institute scientist Simon Porter, Kuiper belt objects (KBO) JR1 and MU69 are as red as, if...

This false-color image, taken at 00:06 UTC on July 14, 2016 by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows the Kuiper Belt object Quaoar. This composite image includes 24 individual LORRI images. In addition to many background stars, two galaxies (IC 1048 and UGC 09485) are also visible in this image. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Snaps Images of Kuiper Belt Object ‘Quaoar’

Sep 1, 2016 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has transmitted a series of images of a Kuiper Belt object known as Quaoar. This false-color image, taken at 00:06 UTC...

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