Space Snowman | God's World News
Space Snowman
News Shorts
Posted: January 07, 2019

A mysterious space object four billion miles from Earth has a new nickname: Space Snowman.

You read about the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule in last week’s News Shorts. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reached the small, icy body on January 1. At a news conference on January 4, scientists and others put on 3-D glasses to get a better view of the city-sized object. They saw what look like curvy ridges. And photos snapped by New Horizons show something stranger. The object has two reddish globes. One part is bigger than the other. They are joined by a narrow neck. Together, they look like a snowman! The combined objects rotate slowly—about once every 15 hours. Scientists say the two globes would rip apart if they spun fast.

Scientists are also interested by what they do not see in the photos: moons, craters, or rings. Scientist Mark Showalter guesses that at least a couple moons may exist a few hundred miles away. And scientist Alan Stern says he’d be surprised if New Horizons didn’t find some craters eventually too. If it does find some, scientists can study the craters to find out what’s inside Ultima Thule.

For the next several days, people will not be able to get more information from Ultima Thule. The Sun will be in the way—smack dab between Ultima Thule and Earth. And how long will it be before scientists get all the new information New Horizons has to offer? The huge distance between Earth and the spacecraft, and its low-powered transmitter, means it will take almost two years to send the data from its flyby!

Three images of Ultima Thule show information about its details and color. (NASA via AP)