Live updates: New Horizons’ flyby of a distant Kuiper Belt object
The spacecraft zoomed past a space rock called MU69 or Ultima Thule on New Year's Day
SPACE BOWLING The last images New Horizons took on December 31 before its closest approach to MU69 reveal that it has a bowling pin shape (left). The artist's impression at right illustrates one possible appearance of the space rock, and the arrows indicate the potential direction of MU69’s spin axis.
From left: NASA, JHUAPL, SWRI; courtesy of James Tuttle Keane