AI Article Synopsis
- The Kuiper Belt is a remote area in the outer Solar System, recently explored by the New Horizons spacecraft on January 1, 2019, which encountered the object (486958) 2014 MU.
- This object is around 30 kilometers wide, classified as a cold classical Kuiper Belt object, meaning it has remained mostly unchanged since its formation due to limited heating from the Sun.
- Initial observations revealed that MU has a unique bilobed shape, distinct geological features, and varying surface brightness, but lacks color diversity, moons, rings, or other detectable structures, suggesting it formed from the collapse of a pebble cloud followed by a merger of its two lobes.
Article Abstract
The Kuiper Belt is a distant region of the outer Solar System. On 1 January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew close to (486958) 2014 MU, a cold classical Kuiper Belt object approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. Such objects have never been substantially heated by the Sun and are therefore well preserved since their formation. We describe initial results from these encounter observations. MU is a bilobed contact binary with a flattened shape, discrete geological units, and noticeable albedo heterogeneity. However, there is little surface color or compositional heterogeneity. No evidence for satellites, rings or other dust structures, a gas coma, or solar wind interactions was detected. MU's origin appears consistent with pebble cloud collapse followed by a low-velocity merger of its two lobes.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw9771 | DOI Listing |
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