NASA鈥檚 New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to a tiny rock in the outer reaches of the solar system. We don鈥檛 know much about that rock, but now we think it might have a moon.
The New Horizons probe flew past Pluto in 2015 and started heading toward a Kuiper belt object called 2014 MU69, a billion miles further away. Because MU69 is so distant, we don鈥檛 really know what it looks like.
From the few observations we do have, we鈥檝e narrowed down the shape of MU69 to three main options: a bulbous peanut shape, a 鈥榗ontact binary鈥� with two rocks that touch one another, or even two separate objects orbiting one another.
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Most of what we know about MU69 comes from pictures taken during occultations 鈥� times when the little rock passes between a bright star and our telescopes. During those brief moments, we can look at the shadow it casts to try to figure out its size and shapes.
One such moment happened on 10 July, when researchers spotted an extra dip in the light of a star MU69 was passing. This extra dip could have come from an even more minuscule moon passing in front of the star, which might give New Horizons another聽place to point its cameras when it passes by in early 2019.
鈥淲e really won鈥檛 know what MU69 looks like until we fly past it, or even gain a full understanding of it until after the encounter,鈥� New Horizons team member said in an online statement. Nevertheless, he said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 all very suggestive.鈥�
Read more: The New Horizons spacecraft is heading towards a mystery rock
