(486958) 2014 MU69
New Horizons target, 2014 MU69 (green circles), as it travels across a dense field of stars and noise in the background. Images taken at 10-minute intervals by WFC3 in 2014.
|
|
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Hubble Space Telescope |
| Discovery site | Earth's orbit |
| Discovery date | 26 June 2014 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | (486958) 2014 MU69 |
|
2014 MU69 · PT1 1110113Y · 11 |
|
|
cubewano · TNO distant |
|
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 16 February 2017 (JD 2457800.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 5 · 2 | |
| Observation arc | 118 days · 851 days |
| Aphelion | 46.434 AU |
| Perihelion | 42.341 AU |
| 44.387 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0461 · 0.036 |
| 295.73 yr (108,015 days) |
|
|
Average orbital speed
|
4.47 km/s |
| 304.15° | |
| 0° 0m 11.88s / day | |
| Inclination | 2.4521° · 1.9° |
| 158.98° | |
| 185.14° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions |
Primary: 20 km (12 mi), Secondary: 18 km (11 mi) 25–45 km (16–28 mi) 18–41 km (11–25 mi) 30 km (19 mi) |
| 0.04–0.10 (assumed) 0.04–0.15 (assumed) |
|
| 26.8 | |
| 10.9 | |
Primary: 20 km (12 mi), Secondary: 18 km (11 mi)
(486958) 2014 MU69 (initially called "PT1" and "1110113Y" by the New Horizons and Hubble teams, respectively) is a classical Kuiper belt object. It is the target for the New Horizons probe for a flyby on 1 January 2019, after its Pluto flyby. It was selected as New Horizons' target in August 2015. After four course changes in October and November 2015, New Horizons is on course toward 2014 MU69.
On 26 June 2014, 2014 MU69 was discovered using the Hubble Space Telescope during a preliminary survey to find a suitable Kuiper belt object for the New Horizons probe to fly by. The discovery required the use of the Hubble Space Telescope, because with an apparent magnitude of nearly 27 it is too faint for all but the most powerful telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope is also capable of very precise astrometry and hence a reliable orbit determination.
When 2014 MU69 was first observed, it was labelled 1110113Y, and nicknamed "11", for short. Its existence as a potential target of the New Horizons probe was announced by NASA in October 2014 and it was unofficially designated PT1 ("Potential Target 1"). Its official designation, 2014 MU69, was assigned by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) in March 2015 after sufficient orbital information was gathered. After further observations pinning down its orbit, it was officially given the permanent minor planet number 486958 in MPC 103886 on 12 March 2017.
The name 2014 MU69 is a provisional designation and indicates that it was the 1745th object (("U" = 20) + ("69" × 25)) discovered between 16 and 30 June 2014 ("2014", "M"). A proper name for the object will be selected in due course.
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