Here is the much awaited image of Ultima Thule, received overnight. Received at 1 kbps from 6.6 billion km away.
Exactly, as we imagined ;)
There will be more …
Other parameters —
- Rotation period 15 +- 1 hr
- Larger lobe 19 km across, smaller lobe 14 km across
- Reddish in color (likely because of Tholins)
The NH team has dubbed the larger sphere "Ultima" and the smaller sphere "Thule".
The team says that the two spheres likely joined as early as 99 percent of the way back to the formation of the solar system, colliding no faster than two cars in a fender-bender.
The New Horizons spacecraft continues to race away at 51,984 km/hour and is already more than 2.3 millions miles away from Ultima Thule. It will take over 2 years to send back all the data it collected over the past 2 days, at ~1 kbps.
Some quick expert analysis — it’s a baby comet!
Press conference -
The day before —
The jubilation the day before —
Check out the following diaries for more info on the New Horizons mission to Ultima Thule —
- Rendezvous with Ultima Thule
- Quick Ultima Thule update: We have telemetry and a new image! by skralyx