LAUREL, Md. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft 4 billion miles from Earth
yielded its first close-up pictures Wednesday of the most distant
celestial object ever explored, depicting what looks like a reddish
snowman.
Ultima Thule, as the small, icy object has been dubbed,
was found to consist of two fused-together spheres, one of them three
times bigger than the other, extending about 21 miles (33 kilometers) in
length.
NASA’s New Horizons, the spacecraft that sent back
pictures of Pluto 3½ years ago, swept past the ancient, mysterious
object early on New Year’s Day. It is 1 billion miles (1.6 billion
kilometers) beyond Pluto.
On Tuesday, based on early, fuzzy images taken the day
before, scientists said Ultima Thule resembled a bowling pin. But when
better, closer pictures arrived, a new consensus emerged Wednesday.
LAUREL, Md. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft 4 billion miles from Earth
yielded its first close-up pictures Wednesday of the most distant
celestial object ever explored, depicting what looks like a reddish
snowman.
Ultima Thule, as the small, icy object has been dubbed,
was found to consist of two fused-together spheres, one of them three
times bigger than the other, extending about 21 miles (33 kilometers) in
length.
NASA’s New Horizons, the spacecraft that sent back
pictures of Pluto 3½ years ago, swept past the ancient, mysterious
object early on New Year’s Day. It is 1 billion miles (1.6 billion
kilometers) beyond Pluto.
On Tuesday, based on early, fuzzy images taken the day
before, scientists said Ultima Thule resembled a bowling pin. But when
better, closer pictures arrived, a new consensus emerged Wednesday.
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