Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Bruce Murray Space Image Library

2014 MU69 comes into focus

2014 MU69 comes into focus
2014 MU69 comes into focus Just over 24 hours before its closest approach to Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, New Horizons sent back the first images that began to reveal its shape. The original images have a pixel size of 10 kilometers not much smaller than Ultima’s estimated size of 30 kilometers, so the object is only about 3 pixels across (left panel). However, image-sharpening techniques combining multiple images show that it is elongated, perhaps twice as long as it is wide (right panel). This shape roughly matches the outline of 2014 MU69's shadow that was seen in observations of the object passing in front of a star made from Argentina in 2017 and Senegal in 2018. NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI