Questions tagged [2014-mu69]
(486958) 2014 MU69 is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the Kuiper belt, the target of the New Horizons spacecraft after its flyby of Pluto. It was originally nicknamed Ultima Thule and now has been officially renamed Arrokoth, or "sky" in the Native American Powhatan and Algonquian languages by NASA.
19 questions
2
votes
1
answer
422
views
What are these mysterious white star-like dots near MU69 Ultima Thule? Real objects near the asteroid, noise, cosmic rays, or something else?
NOTE: I think either possibility suggested below is possible, I'm not looking for arguments why one of them would be your favorite like this answer. Instead, I'm looking for a fairly conclusive answer;...
- 151k
4
votes
1
answer
169
views
Does JPL's Horizons have better MU69 state vectors for the New Horizons flyby somewhere?
Today I downloaded the state vectors for New Horizons and MU69 Arrokoth and subtracted their positions. The two new get closer than about 596,000 kilometers.
The New Horizons output header says:
<...
- 151k
17
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Will there be back-side photos of Ultima Thule?
I understand the reason we're only getting data slowly from New Horizons, but I was wondering ... did the probe flip around to get hi-resolution photos of the back side of Ultima Thule as it passed? ...
- 191
2
votes
1
answer
167
views
LORRI raw images in uncompressed format
I have been solving inverse problems (upsampling) for more than 20 years to improve the resolution of bitmaps image (http://www.resampling.narod.ru). I would like to try my algorithm to improve the ...
- 21
27
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Why no recent information about or photos of Ultima Thule?
It's been two weeks since New Horizons flew past Ultima Thule but the most recent news on the Johns Hopkins site is dated the fourth of January
The image gallery has had no new pictures since the ...
- 3,213
3
votes
1
answer
231
views
Can James Webb see Kuiper Belt Objects like 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule)?
In this paper, we learned that Hubble is the only telescope in the vicinity of Earth that can detect Ultima Thule directly. Hubble will eventually fail, and will be somewhat replaced by James Webb. ...
- 122k
9
votes
2
answers
413
views
Explanation of weird values in New Horizons data?
In this answer I computed (methods given later in post) the estimated time, distance, range, and resolution for the science capture for New Horizon's closest approach to Ultima Thule (2014 MU69).
...
- 1,981
1
vote
0
answers
81
views
How likely is it that a ternary cometary object forms from a binary one?
Binary comets, like 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and MU69 Ultima Thule and at least a couple of others, have been observed. How likely would it be for a binary comet to again join with another object to ...
- 27k
4
votes
3
answers
226
views
How does New Horizons handle unexpected gravitational effects near Ultima Thule?
What are the navigation techniques used to handle the aggregated unknown effect of gravity from local and distant matter for the New Horizons space probe when it intercepted Ultima-Thule ?
I am ...
- 59
1
vote
1
answer
311
views
Where to find raw images of Ultima Thule?
I've found the raw LORRI images taken by New Horizons at Ultima Thule but haven't been able to find raw MVIC images (or data from the other instruments). Does anyone know if these are currently ...
- 1,981
4
votes
1
answer
357
views
How to calculate New Horizons' MVIC camera max resolution at Pluto and Ultima Thule?
I am in trouble calculating the ground resolution of MVIC instrument onboard New Horizons; I found several documents about MVIC specs, like this one:
http://www.boulder.swri.edu/pkb/ssr/ssr-payload-...
- 3,043
5
votes
0
answers
179
views
Having deep space probes use AI to decide where to point their cameras?
With New Horizons on final approach to Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) it has been stated that some or all of the images returned may end up being blank due to the camera being pointed incorrectly because of ...
- 1,981
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What time will news from New Horizons' Arrokoth (2014 MU69) encounter become available to the public?
This is New Years Day and the big day for New Horizons' encounter with Arrokoth!
But it doesn't mean there was nice pictures of MU69 on the big LED displays in Time Square at ...
- 151k
7
votes
1
answer
590
views
What angular resolution is expected during New Horizon's flyby of Ultima Thule?
Ultima Thule is thought to be about 20 miles (30 km) across. However, I can't seem to find any information about approach distance or typical image resolution of New Horizons in regards to this second ...
user28620
4
votes
1
answer
427
views
Will the upcoming observations of occultation by Arrokoth (2014 MU69) be of a single object, or two?
According to Phys.org's New Horizons team prepares for stellar occultation ahead of Ultima Thule flyby:
"Gathering occultation data is an incredibly difficult task," said New Horizons ...
- 151k
6
votes
1
answer
676
views
Timing shadows from the Kuiper belt! Any news? Did it work?
update 24-Jun-2017: SOFIA Arrives in New Zealand to Observe Southern Skies There are plans to fly SOFIA through another predicted occultation path on July 17. SOFIA is a huge (2.5 meter dia.) infrared ...
- 151k
11
votes
1
answer
930
views
Besides retarded gravitation, anything else to worry about when calculating MU69's orbit from scratch?
For fun I'd like to use Hubble Astrometric data for example the observations listed at the bottom here to numerically estimate the orbit of 2014 MU69 as well as its uncertainties.
My plan is to use ...
- 151k
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How (the heck) can 2014 MU69's orbit be know well enough for a close flyby by New Horizons?
The object 2014 MU69 is much smaller and dimmer than Pluto. Even as New Horizons approaches, it will be much harder for its 8.2 inch aperture, cooled CCD long range imager LORRI to get a fix on it ...
- 151k
13
votes
2
answers
434
views
How close to 2014 MU₆₉ can New Horizons get?
New Horizons is en-route to 2014 MU₆₉, where it is planned to fly by 1 January 2019.
Considering fuel and other considerations, how close to 2014 MU₆₉ can it get?
(At the time of writing, October 2015,...
- 11.9k