Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 officially named Arrokoth

Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 was the subject of the farthest flyby ever conducted by a spacecraft, and the name it was given didn't exactly flow off the tongue. NASA suggested Arrokoth as a name for the object to the International Astronomical Union and Minor Planets Center. The name was officially adopted this week at a ceremony at NASA headquarters.

Arrokoth is a Native American term that means "sky" in the Powhatan/Algonquian language. NASA asked for and received permission of the Powhatan Tribal elders to use the name. Arrokoth was four billion miles from Earth when New Horizons made its flyby.

New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern says that the name Arrokoth reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own. New horizons is a long-running mission that launched in January of 2006. It used Jupiter to get a gravity speed boost in 2007 and conducted scientific studies of the planet.

The spacecraft passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. It made its flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on New Years 2019, then nicknamed Ultima Thule. The team says that data from the study of Arrokoth has given clues to the formation of planets. The two distinct lobes of the body are merged into one.

IAU naming conventions allow the discovery team to name the celestial body permanently. Key operations for New Horizons are performed in Maryland, which is the tie to the Powhatan people. NASA's Lori Glaze says that bestowing the Arrokoth name on the celestial body signifies the "strength and endurance of the indigenous Algonquian people of the Chesapeake region."