Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 November 18

                          Passing Asteroid Arrokoth
                      Video Credit: NASA, JHU APL, SwRI

   Explanation: What would it look like to pass asteroid Arrokoth? The
   robotic New Horizons spacecraft zoomed past Arrokoth in January, 3.5
   years after the spacecraft passed Pluto. If this object's name doesn't
   sound familiar, that may be because the distant, double-lobed,
   Kuiper-belt object was unofficially dubbed Ultima Thule until recently
   receiving its official name: 486958 Arrokoth. The featured black and
   white video animates images of Arrokoth taken by New Horizons at
   different angles as it zoomed by. The video clearly shows Arrokoth's
   two lobes, and even hints that the larger lobe is significantly
   flattened. New Horizons found that Arrokoth is different from any known
   asteroid in the inner Solar System and is likely composed of two joined
   planetesimals -- the building blocks of planets as they existed
   billions of years ago. New Horizons continues to speed out of our Solar
   System gaining about three additional Earth-Sun separations every year.

                    Tomorrow's picture: light the galaxy
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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