Arrokoth, the second destination for New Horizons
Arrokoth, the second destination for New Horizons
On 1 January 2019, at a distance of 6.5 billion kilometres from the Sun, New Horizons passed the 31-kilometre-long Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth at a distance of only 3,000 kilometres, while travelling at over 51,000 kilometres per hour. The small icy body is therefore the most distant object from Earth in the Solar System that has been visited and studied directly. Spectral measurements show that the reddish colouration is due to the compounds methanol (CH 3 OH), hydrocyanic acid (HCN) and water ice, as well as some hydrocarbons. Data transmission from the flyby of Arrokoth will continue until the end of 2020 due to the spacecraft's vast distance from Earth.
