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.

NASA has confirmed that its New Horizons space probe has successfully flew by the Kuiper Belt object cataloged as 2014 MU69 and nicknamed Ultima Thule. After completing its second mission, New Horizons turned to Earth, communicated a series of telemetric data that allowed to confirm that it’s in good health and started sending the data it collected.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has just completed its flyby of the object known as 2014 MU69 and nicknamed Ultima Thule. The automatic program to proceed with the photos and the other detections of its target was activated a few days ago so, after sending the last images taken when it was still almost two million kilometers away, New Horizons aimed its instruments at Ultima Thule. If all went well, in the next few hours it will communicate it to the mission control center and start sending the data it collected, a process that will continue for an estimated time in about 20 months.

NASA has announced that its OSIRIS-REx space probe has found traces of water in the asteroid Bennu, reached on December 3. This is water bound to minerals present on Bennu’s surface, hydrated silicates formed in the very early stages of the solar system’s history, when the first small bodies such as the asteroids started forming.

NASA and Lockheed Martin have confirmed that the OSIRIS-REx space probe has reached the asteroid Bennu. From its orbit, at a distance of about 5 kilometers (a bit more than 3 miles), it will start studying its surface creating a map over the course of about a year and a half. This will allow NASA scientists not only to get to know it better but also to choose the most suitable area to proceed with the next phase of the mission, which will consist of taking samples from Bennu’s surface to be returned to Earth.