Ultima Thule

== English == === Etymology 1 === Capitalization of ultima Thule, from Latin ultima (“final; furthest”) + Thule (“northernmost inhabited island”). ==== Noun ==== Ultima Thule (plural Ultimae Thules or Ultima Thules) Alternative letter-case form of ultima Thule (“a place beyond the known world; highest achievement”). === Etymology 2 === From ultima Thule (“furthest place; a place beyond the known world”). The object was first observed in 2014 and announced later that year as a potential target for NASA's New Horizons probe. In March 2018, after inviting suggestions from the public, NASA selected Ultima Thule as its nickname. Once it was determined that the body was a bilobate contact binary, the New Horizons team began calling the larger lobe Ultima and the smaller Thule. ==== Proper noun ==== Ultima Thule (astronomy, informal) Synonym of Arrokoth (“trans-Neptunian object (486958) 2014 MU69”). ===== Usage notes ===== Although nominally farthest, Ultima Thule is not the farthest known object in the Solar System. Even at the time of its discovery, numerous scattered disc objects―which orbit well beyond the Kuiper belt―were already known. (Named examples include Eris and Sedna). The nickname Ultima Thule was selected by NASA in 2018 (after inviting suggestions from the public) and used by them chiefly in respect of the 1 January 2019 flyby by their New Horizons probe. Prior to 2018, NASA had referred to it as PT1 ("potential target 1"). When it was determined that the body was a bilobate contact binary, the New Horizons team began calling the larger lobe Ultima and the smaller Thule. The object's permanent official name, Arrokoth, was announced by the International Astronomical Union in November 2019. ===== Synonyms ===== Arrokoth minor planet 486958 ===== Derived terms ===== Ultima (the larger lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary) Thule (the smaller lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary) ===== Translations ===== == French == === Alternative forms === Ultime Thulé Ultima Thulé === Etymology === Borrowed from English Ultima Thule, from Latin ultima+Thule. === Proper noun === Ultima Thule m (astronomy, informal) Ultima Thule == Italian == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English Ultima Thule, from Latin ultima Thūlē (literally “farthest Thule”). === Proper noun === Ultima Thule ? (astronomy, informal) Ultima Thule == Latin == === Noun === Ultima Thūlē f (genitive Ultimae Thūlēs); first declension (cartography) alternative letter-case form of ultima Thule ==== Declension ==== First-declension adjective with a first-declension noun (feminine, Greek-type, nominative singular in -ē).