It ’s just a fiddling bit more than a year until NASA ’s New Horizons will vaporize past 2014 MU69 , its next aim , and astronomers are combing the data to understand as much as possible about the object before the fateful face-off .
Just a few calendar month ago , NASA foretell that MU69 might actually betwo objectsorbiting really close to each other , or one peanut - shaped physical object , and a new depth psychology suggests that it might have a little moon . Over the summer , the distance rock passed in front of a star and research worker used this effect , call occultation , to memorise more about MU69 .
“ We really wo n’t love what MU69 looks like until we fly past it , or even gain a full understanding of it until after the coming upon , ” New Horizons scientific discipline team phallus Marc Buie , of the Southwest Research Institute , Boulder , pronounce in astatement . “ But even from afar , the more we examine it , the more interesting and amazing this little world becomes . ”
The data suggesting a potential moon add up from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ( SOFIA ) , a telescope wax inside an airplane . SOFIA observed the target on July 10 and among the observations , there was a “ radar target ” in starlight . depth psychology prove that the blip was another physical object around MU69 .
“ A binary star with a smaller lunation might also aid explain the fracture we see in the place of MU69 during these various occultations , ” Buie added . “ It ’s all very revelatory , but another step in our work to get a clear picture of MU69 before New Horizons fly by , just over a year from now . ”
New Horizons has already record the most distant flyby on disk when it flew past Pluto in 2015 , and it will surpass that on January 1 , 2019 , when it reaches MU69 , 6.5 billion kilometers ( 4 billion statute mile ) from Earth . MU69 is estimated to be around 30 kilometers ( 20 international mile ) long .
“ The occultation movement that Marc Buie and his team led for New Horizons has been priceless in opening our eyes to the very real possibility that MU69 is both a lot more complex than anyone suspected , and that it holds many surprise for us at flyby on New Year ’s Eve and New Year ’s Day , 2019 , ” added New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern , also from the Southwest Research Institute . “ The allure of its geographic expedition is becoming substantial and strong as we check more and more about it . It ’s just tremendous ! ”
While 2019 is baffle close , you could tide yourselves over byvoting for a nicknamefor MU69 .
