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First Images of Arrokoth (2014 MU69)

two-lobed object floating in dark space

Source: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Published: January 2, 2019

Historical Date: January 1, 2019

Update November 2019: 2014 MU69 has been officially named Arrokoth.

This image taken by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the New Horizons spacecraft. It was taken at 5:01 Universal Time on January 1, 2019, just 30 minutes before closest approach from a range of 18,000 miles (28,000 kilometers), with an original scale of 730 feet (140 meters) per pixel.

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