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Wow, so much science will come from this flyby. At a glance, it looks like each major piece is made of multiple smaller ones (the lumps with lines between), the craters could be sinkholes between the lumps, idk. This could be crucial to explain planet formation. @NewHorizons2015
2/ I mean, I don't know what the mission team is discussing about it, but it REALLY looks like this could lead to a detailed model of that vital, but mysterious stage of planet formation when meteoroid-sizes cluster and merge to form bodies large enough for gravity to take over.
3/ And if it does, then that is cause for celebration, because that is EXACTLY what the mission promised to give us. It went to look at a pristine object that has not been banged up by collisions in the inner solar system, to try to see an early stage of planet formation.
4/ So when I look at this picture, the first thing that shoots through my mind is, WOW, It is exactly what the @NewHorizons2015 team hoped for. @AlanStern has been saying since forever this is what it would give us, and darned if it isn't the most perfect outcome imaginable.
5/ You can look at this picture almost SEE those ancient meteoroids swirling around each other so long ago, gently merging into larger lumps, then the larger lobes merging into the overall object. It's like a time machine looking into the past. WOW.
6/ So congratulations to @NASA, @AlanStern, the Pluto Underground that plotted for this decades ago, and the amazing @NewHorizons2015 team for hitting two home runs in a row. Amazing. This is why we explore.
