ULTIMA THULE

About:

• Location: Ultima Thule is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt.
  
  
• Features of the object:
  • It is a contact binary 31 km long, composed of two joined bodies 19 km and 14 km across that are nicknamed "Ultima" and "Thule", respectively.
    
    
  • With an orbital period of 298 years and a low inclination and eccentricity, it is classified as a classical Kuiper belt object.
    
    
  • It is believed to be the most primitive object in the Solar System, both bodies being planetesimal aggregates of much smaller building blocks.
    
    
  • Ultima Thule is a relic from the early days of the solar system and studying it could provide answers about the origins of other planets.
    
    
  
  
  
• Nomenclature:
  • Its scientific name is (486958) 2014 MU69.
    
    
  • It is nickname, Ultima Thule (a Greco-Latin term for a place beyond the known world) was chosen as part of a public competition in 2018.
    
    
  • The New Horizons team plans to submit a proper name to the International Astronomical Union when the nature of the object is better known.
    
    
  
  
  
• Discovery:
  • It was discovered in 2014 by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a search for a Kuiper belt object for the New Horizons mission
    
    
  • With the New Horizons space probe's flyby on 1 January 2019, 2014 MU69 became the farthest object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft.