PIA21867: A Kuiper Belt Pair? Artist's Concept of 2014 MU69 as a Binary Object
 Target Name:  2014 MU69
 Mission:  New Horizons
 Spacecraft:  New Horizons
 Product Size:  2016 x 1628 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Johns Hopkins University/APL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21867.tif (5.863 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21867.jpg (388.3 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This is one artist's concept of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, the next flyby target for NASA's New Horizons mission. This binary concept is based on telescope observations made at Patagonia, Argentina, on July 17, 2017, when MU69 passed in front of a star. New Horizons scientists theorize that it could be a single body with a large chunk taken out of it (see PIA21868), or two bodies that are close together or even touching.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Image Credit:
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker

Image Addition Date:
2017-08-04