Detecting Ultima Thule's Size and Shape on Approach - crop of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/pics/Jan1-2018_press-lease_Image1.png">original image</a>
<p>Release Date: January 1, 2019
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At left is a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/pics/Jan1-2018_press-lease_Image1.png">composite of two images</a> taken by New Horizons' high-resolution Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), which provides the best indication of Ultima Thule's size and shape so far. Preliminary measurements of this Kuiper Belt object suggest it is approximately 20 miles long by 10 miles wide (32 kilometers by 16 kilometers). An artist's impression at right illustrates one possible appearance of Ultima Thule, based on the actual image at left. The direction of Ultima's spin axis is indicated by the arrows.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI; sketch courtesy of James Tuttle Keane
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/pics/Jan1-2018_press-lease_Image1.png">http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/pics/Jan1-2018_press-lease_Image1.png</a>