Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2019 November 18 IFRAME: [2]https://www.youtube.com/embed/_IQBSZsqjkU?rel=0 Passing Asteroid Arrokoth Video Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JHU APL, [5]SwRI Explanation: What would it look like to pass asteroid Arrokoth? The robotic [6]New Horizons spacecraft zoomed past Arrokoth in January, 3.5 years after the spacecraft passed [7]Pluto. If this object's name [8]doesn't sound familiar, that may be because the distant, double-lobed, [9]Kuiper-belt object was unofficially dubbed Ultima Thule until recently [10]receiving its official name: [11]486958 Arrokoth. The [12]featured black and white video animates images of Arrokoth taken by New Horizons at [13]different angles as it zoomed by. The video clearly shows [14]Arrokoth's two lobes, and even hints that the larger lobe is significantly flattened. [15]New Horizons found that Arrokoth is different from any known asteroid in the inner Solar System and is likely composed of two joined [16]planetesimals -- the [17]building blocks of planets as they existed billions of years ago. [18]New Horizons continues to speed out of our [19]Solar System gaining about three additional [20]Earth-Sun separations every year. Tomorrow's picture: light the galaxy __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://www.youtube.com/embed/_IQBSZsqjkU?rel=0 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jhuapl.edu/ 5. https://www.swri.org/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/new-horizons/in-depth/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190910.html 8. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/confused-dog-400.jpg 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/kuiper-belt/in-depth/ 10. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/far-far-away-in-the-sky-new-horizons-kuiper-belt-flyby-object-officially-named-arrokoth 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/486958_Arrokoth 12. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Press-Conferences/index.php?page=2019-03-18 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190104.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190522.html 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetesimal 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm1Invdzybs 18. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/2019-Onward.php 19. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/in-depth/ 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191117.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191118 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191119.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. http://www.mtu.edu/