Ultima Thule Rotation Gif
Explanation:
Ultima Thule
is the most distant world explored by a spacecraft
from Earth.
In the dim light 6.5
billion kilometers from the Sun,
the New Horizons spacecraft captured these two frames 38 minutes
apart as it sped toward the
Kuiper belt world on January 1 at
51,000 kilometers per hour.
A contact binary,
the two lobes of Ultima Thule rotate together
once every 15 hours or so.
Shown as a blinking gif,
the rotation between the frames produces a
tantalizing 3D perspective of the most primitive world ever seen.
Dubbed separately by the science team Ultima and Thule, the larger
lobe Ultima, is about 19 kilometers in diameter.
Smaller Thule is 14 kilometers across.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
