Initial results from the New Horizons exploration of 2014 MU69, a small Kuiper Belt Object
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
2020-04-03 v1
Abstract
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.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.2004.01017,
title = {Initial results from the New Horizons exploration of 2014 MU69, a small Kuiper Belt Object},
author = {S. A. Stern and H. A. Weaver and J. R. Spencer and C. B. Olkin and G. R. Gladstone and W. M. Grundy and J. M. Moore and D. P. Cruikshank and H. A. Elliott and W. B. McKinnon and J. Wm. Parker and A. J. Verbiscer and L. A. Young and D. A. Aguilar and J. M. Albers and T. Andert and J. P. Andrews and F. Bagenal and M. E. Banks and B. A. Bauer and J. A. Bauman and K. E. Bechtold and C. B. Beddingfield and N. Behrooz and K. B. Beisser and S. D. Benecchi and E. Bernardoni and R. A. Beyer and S. Bhaskaran and C. J. Bierson and R. P. Binzel and E. M. Birath and M. K. Bird and D. R. Boone and A. F. Bowman and V. J. Bray and D. T. Britt and L. E. Brown and M. R. Buckley and M. W. Buie and B. J. Buratti and L. M. Burke and S. S. Bushman and B. Carcich and A. L. Chaikin and C. L. Chavez and A. F. Cheng and E. J. Colwell and S. J. Conard and M. P. Conner and C. A. Conrad and J. C. Cook and S. B. Cooper and O. S. Custodio and C. M. Dalle Ore and C. C. Deboy and P. Dharmavaram and R. D. Dhingra and G. F. Dunn and A. M. Earle and A. F. Egan and J. Eisig and M. R. El-Maarry and C. Engelbrecht and B. L. Enke and C. J. Ercol and E. D. Fattig and C. L. Ferrell and T. J. Finley and J. Firer and J. Fischetti and W. M. Folkner and M. N. Fosbury and G. H. Fountain and J. M. Freeze and L. Gabasova and L. S. Glaze and J. L. Green and G. A. Griffith and Y. Guo and M. Hahn and D. W. Hals and D. P. Hamilton and S. A. Hamilton and J. J. Hanley and A. Harch and K. A. Harmon and H. M. Hart and J. Hayes and C. B. Hersman and M. E. Hill and T. A. Hill and J. D. Hofgartner and M. E. Holdridge and M. Horányi and A. Hosadurga and A. D. Howard and C. J. A. Howett and S. E. Jaskulek and D. E. Jennings and J. R. Jensen and M. R. Jones and H. K. Kang and D. J. Katz and D. E. Kaufmann and J. J. Kavelaars and J. T. Keane and G. P. Keleher and M. Kinczyk and M. C. Kochte and P. Kollmann and S. M. Krimigis and G. L. Kruizinga and D. Y. Kusnierkiewicz and M. S. Lahr and T. R. Lauer and G. B. Lawrence and J. E. Lee and E. J. Lessac-Chenen and I. R. Linscott and C. M. Lisse and A. W. Lunsford and D. M. Mages and V. A. Mallder and N. P. Martin and B. H. May and D. J. McComas and R. L. McNutt and Jr. D. S. Mehoke and T. S. Mehoke and D. S. Nelson and H. D. Nguyen and J. I. Núñez and A. C. Ocampo and W. M. Owen and G. K. Oxton and A. H. Parker and M. Pätzold and J. Y. Pelgrift and F. J. Pelletier and J. P. Pineau and M. R. Piquette and S. B. Porter and S. Protopapa and E. Quirico and J. A. Redfern and A. L. Regiec and H. J. Reitsema and D. C. Reuter and D. C. Richardson and J. E. Riedel and M. A. Ritterbush and S. J. Robbins and D. J. Rodgers and G. D. Rogers and D. M. Rose and P. E. Rosendall and K. D. Runyon and M. G. Ryschkewitsch and M. M. Saina and M. J. Salinas and P. M. Schenk and J. R. Scherrer and W. R. Schlei and B. Schmitt and D. J. Schultz and D. C. Schurr and F. Scipioni and R. L. Sepan and R. G. Shelton and M. R. Showalter and M. Simon and K. N. Singer and E. W. Stahlheber and D. R. Stanbridge and J. A. Stansberry and A. J. Steffl and D. F. Strobel and M. M. Stothoff and T. Stryk and J. R. Stuart and M. E. Summers and M. B. Tapley and A. Taylor and H. W. Taylor and R. M. Tedford and H. B. Throop and L. S. Turner and O. M. Umurhan and J. Van Eck and D. Velez and M. H. Versteeg and M. A. Vincent and R. W. Webbert and S. E. Weidner and G. E. Weigle and J. R. Wendel and O. L. White and K. E. Whittenburg and B. G. Williams and K. E. Williams and S. P. Williams and H. L. Winters and A. M. Zangari and T. H. Zurbuchen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.01017},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
43 pages, 8 figure