Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed thr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Binzel, Richard P. (Author), Earle, A.M (Author)
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (Contributor)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2020-05-05T19:41:34Z.
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Online Access:Get fulltext
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100 1 0 |a Binzel, Richard P.  |e author 
100 1 0 |a Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences  |e contributor 
700 1 0 |a Earle, A.M.  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Color, composition, and thermal environment of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth 
260 |b American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS),   |c 2020-05-05T19:41:34Z. 
856 |z Get fulltext  |u https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125025 
520 |a The outer Solar System object (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU69) has been largely undisturbed since its formation. We studied its surface composition using data collected by the New Horizons spacecraft. Methanol ice is present along with organic material, which may have formed through irradiation of simple molecules. Water ice was not detected. This composition indicates hydrogenation of carbon monoxide-rich ice and/or energetic processing of methane condensed on water ice grains in the cold, outer edge of the early Solar System. There are only small regional variations in color and spectra across the surface, which suggests that Arrokoth formed from a homogeneous or well-mixed reservoir of solids. Microwave thermal emission from the winter night side is consistent with a mean brightness temperature of 29 ± 5 kelvin. ©2020 
520 |a NASA (contract no. NASW-02008) 
520 |a NASA (grant no. NAS5-97271 / TaskOrder30) 
546 |a en 
655 7 |a Article 
773 |t 10.1126/science.aay3705 
773 |t Science