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Behold, Arrokoth

Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Following the Pluto flyby, mission scientists found another object for New Horizons to visit: Arrokoth. The trans-Neptunian Kuiper belt object turned out to be a pleasant surprise, since it turned out to have a unique snowman-like shape.

New Horizons visited Arrokoth on January 1, 2019, and it’s now the farthest object ever to be visited by a spacecraft. Data from Arrokoth “has given us clues about the formation of planets and our cosmic origins,” said Marc Buie, a researcher from the Southwest Research Institute, in a 2019 NASA statement. “We believe this ancient body, composed of two distinct lobes that merged into one entity, may harbor answers that contribute to our understanding of the origin of life on Earth.”

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