Tag: Arrokoth
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Discoveries at solar system’s distant frontier shed light on how planets form
The uniform color and composition of Arrokoth’s surface shows the Kuiper Belt object formed from a small, uniform, cloud of material in the solar nebula, rather than a mishmash of matter from more separated parts of the nebula. The former supports the idea that Arrokoth formed in a local collapse of a cloud in the…
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How a space snowman called Arrokoth is shedding new light on planetary origins
A computer-generated reconstruction of Arrokoth’s shape makes it look like a squashed snowman, but slightly less squashed than originally thought. (NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI Image / Roman Tkachenko) The space snowman that was the focus of a close encounter with NASA’s New Horizons probe last year is helping scientists answer a cosmic question: How…
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‘Ultima Thule’ no more: New Horizons’ space snowman is named Arrokoth
A composite image based on data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows the icy Kuiper Belt object formerly known as 2014 MU69 or Ultima Thule, and now called Arrokoth. (NASA / SwRI / JHUAPL Photo) The snowman-shaped object that NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past nearly a year ago on the solar system’s icy fringe…