This animated sequence shows the rotation of Ultima Thule (corrected for the changing distance) so that Ultima Thule (officially named 2014 MU69) appears at constant size but becomes more detailed as the approach progresses.
<p>All the images have been sharpened using scientific techniques that enhance detail. The original image scale is 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) per pixel in the first frame, and 0.08 miles (0.14 kilometers) per pixel in the last frame. The rotation period of Ultima Thule is about 16 hours, so the movie covers a little under half a rotation. Among other things, the New Horizons science team will use these images to help determine the three-dimensional shape of Ultima Thule, in order to better understand its nature and origin.
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The raw images included in the movie are available on the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/UltimaThule-Encounter/">New Horizons LORRI website</a>.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" class="extiw" title="w:NASA">National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Physics_Laboratory" class="extiw" title="w:Applied Physics Laboratory">Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Research_Institute" class="extiw" title="w:Southwest Research Institute">Southwest Research Institute</a>
"<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?gallery_id=2&amp;image_id=585">Rotation Animation of Ultima Thule (resized, no annotation)</a>"