Two images taken 38 minutes apart as the f lyby took place, at
ranges of 61,000 kilometres (38,000 miles) and 28,000 kilometres
(17,000 miles) respectively, have been combined to create the first
stereoimagepairofUltimaThule.
IfyouwerewearingapairofstereoglassesUltimaThulewould
appear three dimensional, and some of its features would appear
much more prominent. ‘The first exploration of a small Kuiper Belt
object and the most distant exploration of any world in history is
nowhistory,butalmostallofthedataanalysisliesinthefuture,”
says Alan Stern.Using the same images that created the stereo image pair, scientists
also created a GIF containing these two images of Ultima Thule.
Although it may be hard to envision just looking at these two images
on printed paper, by f licking between the two constantly the rotation
of Ultima Thule is revealed, as well as some hints to the object’s
topography. The difference in brightness of the surface depressions
between the two images provides scientists with hope as they have
a thorough delve into the data collected by New Horizons. The
animated GIF is available for all to see on the New Horizons website
at pluto.jhuapl.edu.Three dimensions
of Ultima Thule
Ultima caught
spinning around
1 January 2019 // 4:23am UTC
(31 December 2018 // 11:23pm EST)1 January 2019 // 4:23am UTC
(31 December 2018 // 11:23pm EST)“ Scientists were able to
create the first true-colour
images of the object”
Black-and-white images of Ultima Thule do
not reveal its true nature, but scientists were
able to create the first true-colour images of
the object using data taken by LORRI and the
Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC).
The left image is an enhanced-colour image
taken by the MVIC shortly before its closest
approach at a distance of 137,000 kilometres
(85,000 miles). It combines near-infrared, red
and blue channels. By combining this withLORRI’s higher spatial resolution image (centre)
the resulting image on the right shows Ultima
Thule in a new light. Scientists are especially
interested in the reduced red colouring at the
neck of the object.Enough of black and white
1 January 2019 // 4:08am UTC (31 December 2018 // 11:08pm EST)
NNooo
mmmooooonnnsffoooorUUltimmmmaaa
From the data already
analysed, scientists can
safely rule out any moons,
satellites or rings larger than
1.6 kilometres (one mile)
caught in Ultima's
orbitUltima Thule