Scientists from NASA's New Horizons mission have released the first detailed images of the most distant object ever explored - the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed 'Ultima Thule'.
Its remarkable appearance, unlike anything we've seen before, illuminates the processes that built the planets four and a half billion years ago, NASA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The new images are taken from as close as 17,000 miles (27,000 kilometers) with a resolution of 140 meters per pixel. They were snapped while approaching the object, and is said to reveal the Ultima Thule as a "contact binary", consisting of two connected spheres.
Data from the New Year's Day flyby will continue to arrive over the next weeks and months, with much higher resolution images yet to come.
Image Courtesy: NASA