Ultima Thule

See also: ultima Thule, ultima Thulé, and Ultima Thulé

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)

1. Alternative letter-case form of ultima Thule (“a place beyond the known world; highest achievement”)
   • 1875, “North-West Pembrokeshire”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine‎^[1], page 288:

     […] the metropolis of our far west, and about as neat and picturesque an assize town as ever was, with its fine old castle overhanging the river, and, like many of these Ultimæ Thules of civilisation, having several good shops and handsome churches !

Etymology 2

Ultima Thule occulting a background star

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

1. (astronomy, informal) Synonym of Arrokoth (“trans-Neptunian object (486958) 2014 MU69”)
   • 2018 March 13, “New Horizons Chooses Nickname for ‘Ultimate’ Flyby _target”, in NASA‎^[2]:

     With substantial public input, the team has chosen “Ultima Thule” (pronounced ultima thoo-lee”) for the Kuiper Belt object the New Horizons spacecraft will explore on Jan. 1, 2019.

   • 2018 September 24, Paul Wood, “Preparing to meet Ultima Thule”, in Nature Astronomy‎^[3]:

     Since NASA’s New Horizons mission left its rendezvous with the dwarf planet Pluto in late 2015, it has been preparing for another close encounter, with cold classical Kuiper belt object (CCKBO) 2014 MU₆₉, also known as Ultima Thule

   • 2020 May 8, J. I. Katz, S. Wang, “Arrokoth's Necklace”, in arXiv‎^[4]:

     Flyby images of (486958) Arrokoth (Ultima Thule, 2014 MU₆₉) show a comparatively bright "necklace" in the neck, or cleft between its two lobes, in contrast to its generally low albedo.

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
• (486958) 2014 MU69
• 2014 MU69

Derived terms

• Ultima (the larger lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary)
• Thule (the smaller lobe of the Ultima Thule contact binary)

Translations

Translations

• French: Ultime Thulé, Ultima Thulé (fr), Ultima Thule
• Italian: Ultima Thule

French

Ultima Thule (circled) as it travels across the background of stars

Alternative forms

• Ultime Thulé
• Ultima Thulé

Etymology

Borrowed from English Ultima Thule, from Latin ultima+Thule.

Proper noun

Ultima Thule m

1. (astronomy, informal) Ultima Thule

Italian

Extrapolated shape of Ultima Thule from its occultation events

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Ultima Thule, from Latin ultima Thūlē (literally “farthest Thule”).

Proper noun

Ultima Thule ?

1. (astronomy, informal) Ultima Thule

Latin

Noun

Ultima Thūlē f (genitive Ultimae Thūlēs); first declension

1. (cartography) Alternative letter-case form of ultima Thule

Declension

First-declension adjective with a first-declension noun (Greek-type).

	singular	plural
nominative	Ultima Thūlē	Ultimae Thūlae
genitive	Ultimae Thūlēs	Ultimārum Thūlārum
dative	Ultimae Thūlae	Ultimīs Thūlīs
accusative	Ultimam Thūlēn	Ultimās Thūlās
ablative	Ultimā Thūlē	Ultimīs Thūlīs
vocative	Ultima Thūlē	Ultimae Thūlae