January 3, 2019

Ultima Thule is made up of two smaller asteroids

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NASA published the first detailed images of the Kuiper Belt object cataloged as 2014 MU69 and nicknamed Ultima Thule. Captured by the New Horizons space probe’s LORRI and MVIC instruments approximately 90 to 30 minutes before its closest approach, they finally clearly show this object’s double-lobe structure. In jargon, it’s called a contact binary and is the result of two close objects that collide at low speed and end up merging. The larger lobe has been nicknamed Ultima and the smaller Thule.

Photo of the Moon's area where the Chang'e-4 mission landed (Photo courtesy China national space administration)

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The China national space administration has confirmed that the lander and the rover of its Chang’e-4 mission have landed on the hidden face of the Moon today at 2.26 GMT. In the past various space probes took photos of the hidden face from the orbit, but these are the first vehicles that land there. The mission began on December 7 with the launch of the spacecraft that contains lander and the rover.