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Scientists Have Released a Treasure Trove of Data from the Most Distant Object We've Ever Visited

Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Photo credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
  • Scientists have released a treasure trove of data regarding Arrokoth (formerly Ultima Thule), which is the most distant object to be visited by a spacecraft.

  • The object revealed insight into the origins of our solar system, settling a decades-old debate about how the planets formed.

  • The spacecraft also identified organic molecules similar to life's ingredients that give the object a reddish hue.


Last year, when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft sped past Arrokoth—the most distant object ever investigated by Earthlings—it collected a dizzying amount of data. Scientists are beginning to reveal what they learned.

Astronomers reported their findings this week in a series of three articles published February 13 in the journal Science. The spacecraft helped unravel how the snowman-shaped object likely formed and what it might be made of. Arrokoth, formerly known as 2014 MU69 and Ultima Thule, has also provided valuable insight into the origins of our solar system.

There are two prevailing theories about how our solar system might have formed: either in a violent amalgamation of dust and rock, or a much gentler meeting of clouds of gas and dust.

Tucked away in a distant, frozen corner of the solar system, Arrokoth is a relic, left over from this mysterious era in our universe’s history. It has essentially floated along its orbit unchanged for the past 4 billion years, making it a perfect study subject for determining which formation theory is likely to be correct.

“To build planets, you don’t just start with small grains and gradually they build up to larger and larger objects progressively, but instead you have local gravitational collapse of clusters of material in the solar nebula, that come together to form medium-size objects,” astronomer John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, told the Washington Post.

Researchers paired their findings with months of computer models that simulated how Arrokoth might have formed. Astronomers believe the two-lobed celestial object was once a binary system, meaning two objects circled each other until they eventually combined. Because Arrokoth is still intact, the impact probably wasn’t catastrophic, researchers say, and likely occurred at a relatively slow pace.

This also suggests the solar system likely coalesced in the same way, gently collapsing into itself from a nebulous cloud of dust and not as the result of a series of violent collisions. “Arrokoth has provided a decisive test between the two,” New Horizons’ Principal Investigator Alan Stern said during a press conference. “I believe this is a game changer.”

New Horizons answered a number of questions about the faraway body. Its mysterious red hue, for example, is likely the work of tiny organic molecules similar to tholins, which scientists believe to be primary ingredients for life. The spacecraft answered other questions, too. Arrokoth probably isn't as pancake-shaped as previously thought. It's still got a bit of girth to it.

Once New Horizons hurtled past Arrokoth, it set its sights for the distant stars. The spacecraft, operated out of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, is currently speeding away from our solar system. Researchers hope the craft can visit one more Kuiper Belt object before it fizzles out. But they’re not sure which one yet. It has enough fuel to operate well into the 2030s, Discover reports.

Here’s to New Horizons and another decade of new revelations.

Update: We've updated the article to clarify that Arrokoth is classified as a planetary object, not a comet. We regret the error.

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