The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

J R Spencer; S A Stern; J M Moore; H A Weaver; K N Singer; C B Olkin; A J Verbiscer; W B McKinnon; J Wm Parker; R A Beyer; J T Keane; T R Lauer; S B Porter; O L White; B J Buratti; M R El-Maarry; C M Lisse; A H Parker; H B Throop; S J Robbins; O M Umurhan; R P Binzel; D T Britt; M W Buie; A F Cheng; D P Cruikshank; H A Elliott; G R Gladstone; W M Grundy; M E Hill; M Horanyi; D E Jennings; J J Kavelaars; I R Linscott; D J McComas; R L McNutt Jr; S Protopapa; D C Reuter; P M Schenk; M R Showalter; L A Young; A M Zangari; A Y Abedin; C B Beddingfield; S D Benecchi; E Bernardoni; C J Bierson; D Borncamp; V J Bray; A L Chaikin; R D Dhingra; C Fuentes; T Fuse; P L Gay; S D J Gwyn; D P Hamilton; J D Hofgartner; M J Holman; A D Howard; C J A Howett; H Karoji; D E Kaufmann; M Kinczyk; B H May; M Mountain; M Pätzold; J M Petit; M R Piquette; I N Reid; H J Reitsema; K D Runyon; S S Sheppard; J A Stansberry; T Stryk; P Tanga; D J Tholen; D E Trilling; L H Wasserman

doi:10.1126/science.aay3999

The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth

Science. 2020 Feb 28;367(6481):eaay3999. doi: 10.1126/science.aay3999. Epub 2020 Feb 13.

Authors

J R Spencer¹, S A Stern², J M Moore³, H A Weaver⁴, K N Singer², C B Olkin², A J Verbiscer⁵, W B McKinnon⁶, J Wm Parker², R A Beyer^{7

3}, J T Keane⁸, T R Lauer⁹, S B Porter², O L White^{7

3}, B J Buratti¹⁰, M R El-Maarry^{11

12}, C M Lisse⁴, A H Parker², H B Throop¹³, S J Robbins², O M Umurhan³, R P Binzel¹⁴, D T Britt¹⁵, M W Buie², A F Cheng⁴, D P Cruikshank³, H A Elliott¹⁶, G R Gladstone¹⁶, W M Grundy^{17

18}, M E Hill⁴, M Horanyi¹⁹, D E Jennings²⁰, J J Kavelaars²¹, I R Linscott²², D J McComas²³, R L McNutt Jr⁴, S Protopapa², D C Reuter²⁰, P M Schenk²⁴, M R Showalter⁷, L A Young², A M Zangari², A Y Abedin²¹, C B Beddingfield⁷, S D Benecchi²⁵, E Bernardoni¹⁹, C J Bierson²⁶, D Borncamp²⁷, V J Bray²⁸, A L Chaikin²⁹, R D Dhingra³⁰, C Fuentes³¹, T Fuse³², P L Gay²⁵, S D J Gwyn²¹, D P Hamilton³³, J D Hofgartner¹⁰, M J Holman³⁴, A D Howard³⁵, C J A Howett², H Karoji³⁶, D E Kaufmann², M Kinczyk³⁷, B H May³⁸, M Mountain³⁹, M Pätzold⁴⁰, J M Petit⁴¹, M R Piquette¹⁹, I N Reid⁴², H J Reitsema⁴³, K D Runyon⁴, S S Sheppard⁴⁴, J A Stansberry⁴², T Stryk⁴⁵, P Tanga⁴⁶, D J Tholen⁴⁷, D E Trilling¹⁸, L H Wasserman¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA. [email protected].
² Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
³ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000, USA.
⁴ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
⁶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
⁷ SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
⁸ Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
⁹ National Science Foundation's National Optical Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ 26732, USA.
¹⁰ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
¹¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK.
¹² University College London, Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
¹³ Independent Consultant, Washington, D.C., USA.
¹⁴ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
¹⁶ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.
¹⁷ Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
¹⁹ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
²⁰ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
²¹ National Research Council of Canada, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada.
²² Independent Consultant, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
²³ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
²⁴ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
²⁵ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
²⁶ Earth and Planetary Science Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
²⁷ Decipher Technology Studios, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA.
²⁸ Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
²⁹ Independent Science Writer, Arlington, VT 05250, USA.
³⁰ University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA.
³¹ Universidad de Chile, Centro de Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines, Santiago, Chile.
³² Kashima Space Technology Center, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Kashima, Ibaraki 314-8501, Japan.
³³ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
³⁴ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³⁵ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
³⁶ National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Tokyo, Japan.
³⁷ Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
³⁸ Independent Collaborator, Windlesham GU20 6YW, UK.
³⁹ Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Washington, DC 20004, USA.
⁴⁰ Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung an der Universität zu Köln, Cologne 50931, Germany.
⁴¹ Institut Univers, Temps-fréquence, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules, Unité Mixte de Recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite Bourgogne Franche Comte, F-25000 Besancon, France.
⁴² Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
⁴³ Independent Consultant, Holland, MI 49424, USA.
⁴⁴ Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
⁴⁵ Roane State Community College, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA.
⁴⁶ Université Côte d'Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange/ Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7293, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France.
⁴⁷ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

PMID: 32054694
DOI: 10.1126/science.aay3999

Abstract

The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, is composed of primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. In January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36-kilometer-long contact binary (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU₆₉). Images from the flyby show that Arrokoth has no detectable rings, and no satellites (larger than 180 meters in diameter) within a radius of 8000 kilometers. Arrokoth has a lightly cratered, smooth surface with complex geological features, unlike those on previously visited Solar System bodies. The density of impact craters indicates the surface dates from the formation of the Solar System. The two lobes of the contact binary have closely aligned poles and equators, constraining their accretion mechanism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Associated data

figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.11485443

Grants and funding

National Research Council of Canada/International