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Initial results from the New Horizons exploration of 2014 MU 69 , a small Kuiper Belt object

2019; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 364; Issue: 6441 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.aaw9771

1095-9203

S. A. Stern, H. A. Weaver, J. R. Spencer, C. B. Olkin, G. R. Gladstone, W. M. Grundy, J. M. Moore, D. P. Cruikshank, H. A. Elliott, W. B. McKinnon, J. W. Parker, A. Verbiscer, L. A. Young, David Aguilar, Joshua Albers, T. Andert, John P. Andrews, F. Bagenal, M. E. Banks, Brian Bauer, Jeremy Bauman, Katie Bechtold, C. B. Beddingfield, Neda Behrooz, K. Beißer, Susan D. Benecchi, E. Bernardoni, R. A. Beyer, S. Bhaskaran, C. J. Bierson, Richard P. Binzel, Emma Birath, M. K. Bird, Dylan Boone, Alice Bowman, V. J. Bray, D. T. Britt, L. E. Brown, Matthew R. Buckley, M. W. Buie, B. J. Buratti, Laura M. Burke, Stewart Bushman, B. Carcich, A. Chaikin, Carrie L. Chavez, A. F. Cheng, Edwin Colwell, Steven J. Conard, M. P. Conner, C. A. Conrad, J. C. Cook, Stanley B. Cooper, O. S. Custodio, C. M. Dalle Ore, Christopher C. DeBoy, Priya Dharmavaram, Rajani D. Dhingra, G. Dunn, A. M. Earle, A. F. Egan, J. Eisig, M. R. El‐Maarry, Carl Engelbrecht, B. L. Enke, Carl J. Ercol, E. Fattig, Chelsea L. Ferrell, T. Finley, J. Firer, Joel T. Fischetti, W. M. Folkner, M. N. Fosbury, Glen H. Fountain, J. M. Freeze, Leila Gabasova, L. S. Glaze, James Green, Gabrielle Griffith, Yanping Guo, M. Hahn, D. W. Hals, Douglas P. Hamilton, Sarah A. Hamilton, J. Hanley, A. Harch, Kristen Harmon, H. M. Hart, J. R. Hayes, Christopher B. Hersman, M. E. Hill, Tracy A. Hill, Jason D. Hofgartner, Mark E. Holdridge, M. Horányi, A. Hosadurga, A. D. Howard, C. J. A. Howett, S. Jaskulek, Donald E. Jennings, J.R. Jensen, Melissa R. Jones, H. K. Kang, D. J. Katz, D. E. Kaufmann, J. J. Kavelaars, J. T. Keane, G. P. Keleher, M. J. Kinczyk, M. C. Kochte, P. Kollmann, S. M. Krimigis, Gerhard Kruizinga, David Y. Kusnierkiewicz, M. S. Lahr, Tod R. Lauer, George Lawrence, J. E. Lee, Erik J. Lessac‐Chenen, I. R. Linscott, C. M. Lisse, Allen Lunsford, Declan Mages, V. A. Mallder, N. Martin, B. May, D. J. McComas, R. L. McNutt, Doug Mehoke, Thomas Mehoke, Derek Nelson, Hien D. Nguyen, Jorge I. Núñez, A. Ocampo, W. M. Owen, G. K. Oxton, A. H. Parker, M. Pätzold, John Pelgrift, F. Pelletier, Jon P. Pineau, M. Piquette, Simon B. Porter, S. Protopapa, É. Quirico, J. Redfern, Alysen Regiec, H. J. Reitsema, Dennis C. Reuter, D. C. Richardson, Joseph E. Riedel, M. A. Ritterbush, S. J. Robbins, D. J. Rodgers, Gabe Rogers, D. Rose, Paul E. Rosendall, Kirby Runyon, M. G. Ryschkewitsch, Magda Saina, Michael J. Salinas, P. Schenk, J. Scherrer, Wayne Schlei, B. Schmitt, Daniel Schultz, D. C. Schurr, F. Scipioni, Rebecca Sepan, Richard Shelton, M. R. Showalter, M. Simon, K. N. Singer, E. W. Stahlheber, Dale Stanbridge, J. A. Stansberry, A. J. Steffl, D. F. Strobel, M. M. Stothoff, T. Stryk, Jeffrey Stuart, M. E. Summers, Mark B. Tapley, Anthony H. Taylor, H. W. Taylor, R. M. Tedford, H. B. Throop, L. S. Turner, O. M. Umurhan, J. Van Eck, D. Velez, M. H. Versteeg, Michael A. Vincent, R. Webbert, S. Weidner, Gerald Weigle, Johan Wendel, O. L. White, Karl Whittenburg, B. G. Williams, Kenneth E. Williams, Stephen Williams, Helene Winters, A. M. Zangari, T. H. Zurbuchen,

Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

The Kuiper Belt is a distant region of the Solar System. On 1 January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew close to (486958) 2014 MU69, a Cold Classical Kuiper Belt Object, a class of objects that have never been heated by the Sun and are therefore well preserved since their formation. Here we describe initial results from these encounter observations. MU69 is a bi-lobed contact binary with a flattened shape, discrete geological units, and noticeable albedo heterogeneity. However, there is little surface color and compositional heterogeneity. No evidence for satellites, ring or dust structures, gas coma, or solar wind interactions was detected. By origin MU69 appears consistent with pebble cloud collapse followed by a low velocity merger of its two lobes.