(NASA / JHAPL / SwRI)
The New Horizons mission has found two close binary systems in the Kuiper Belt, which consist of bodies 30-50 kilometers in size and were formed during the origin of the solar system.
The study of such objects allows us to learn more about the interaction of planetesimals in the early solar system.
The flight of New Horizons has been going on for more than 15 years, during that time the station managed to fly to the Pluto system and for the first time obtain detailed images of the dwarf planet and its satellites
The probe also visited for the first time the Kuiper Belt object Arrocot, collecting unique data.
Now the station is at a distance of 51 astronomical units from Earth and is heading towards the limits of the solar system, exploring the environment and objects in the Kuiper Belt.
New Horizons is expected to shut down by the end of the 2030s, reaching 100 astronomical units from Earth.
Now Hal Weaver from Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory presented new results from New Horizons observations of Kuiper Belt bodies at the 53rd meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences.
In September 2018, the station, using the LORRI camera, remotely surveyed objects 31JY 2011 and OS393 2014, which were previously discovered during ground-based observations.
At the time of shooting, 31JY 2011 was at a distance of 0.15 astronomical units from the device, and OS393 of 2014 was at 0.09 astronomical units.
Comparison of observational data with models showed that the model of a close binary system explains the brightness and the visible elongated shape of objects best of all.
In the case of 31JY 2011, these are two bodies with a diameter of about 50 kilometers, separated by a distance of 200 kilometers.
In the case of OS393 2014, two bodies measuring 30 kilometers, the distance between which is 150 kilometers.
Scientists believe that these systems, like Arrocot, belong to the cold population of classical Kuiper Belt objects that have survived almost intact since the formation of the solar system.
Source:
- Skyandtelescope.org: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/new-horizons-discovers-kuiper-belt-twins/