A composite image shows the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth from NASA New Horizons Spacecraft Data. Scientists on Thursday offered the fullest description yet of the composition and origin of Arrokoth based on data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which whizzed past it last year. About 22 miles (36 km) long and 12 miles (20 km) wide, it is classified as a planetesimal, objects that were among the solar system's original building blocks. These small bodies coalesced at an early stage of the solar system's formation some 4.5 billion years ago and are a key intermediate size step on the way to building planets. Arrokoth is one of the thousands of small icy bodies inhabiting the Kuiper Belt, the solar system's vast "third zone" beyond the inner terrestrial planets and the outer gas giant planets.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 13, 2020 18:56 UTC