{"id":106789,"date":"2020-02-14T11:16:45","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=106789"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:55:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:55:32","slug":"nasas-new-horizons-mission-finds-window-into-the-solar-systems-cold-dusty-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/nasas-new-horizons-mission-finds-window-into-the-solar-systems-cold-dusty-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s New Horizons Mission Finds Window into the Solar System\u2019s Cold, Dusty Origins"},"content":{"rendered":"
NASA\u2019s New Horizons team, which has been studying the asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, has found more clues about the earliest days of the solar system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we found is a remarkable window into the past,\u201d says 色花堂 Physicist Dan Britt, who is part of the mission.\u00a0\u201c(Asteroid) Arrokoth<\/a> turned out to be two distinct-appearing asteroids that are physically joined. They assembled very slowly and gently. It was preserved over the last 4.5 billion years, because it is far from the orbits of planets and is much less likely to be hit by other small bodies. What we see are silicates and ices of methanol, again showing us a window into the cold, dusty origins of our solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n The team\u2019s findings were published in two articles appearing in the journal Science <\/em>Thursday.<\/p>\n The New Horizons spacecraft made history when it flew by Pluto in 2015 providing a whole new perspective on the dwarf planet. NASA then took the opportunity to send the spacecraft toward the Kuiper Belt. This region of space contains some of the oldest remnants of the solar system and until this mission had never been explored up close and with the technology to take detailed images and reading.<\/p>\n