Ultima Thule
Context: NASA has found evidence of a unique mixture of water ice, methanol, and organic molecules on Ultima Thule’s surface. This mixture is very different from most icy objects explored previously by spacecraft till date.
- Located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar system.
- Measures approximately 30 km in diameter, and is irregularly shaped.
- It has a reddish color, probably caused by exposure of hydrocarbons to sunlight over billions of years.
- It belongs to a class of Kuiper belt objects called the “cold classicals”, which have nearly circular orbits with low inclinations to the solar plane.
About New Horizons:
- Launched on January 19, 2006 and conducted a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in summer 2015.
- The goal of the mission is to understand the formation of the Plutonian system, the Kuiper belt, and the transformation of the early Solar System.