Ultima Thule is a primordial remnant of the early solar system. The New Horizons mission flew by the mysterious space rock at the start of the year and NASA revealed Ultima Thule's distinctive two-lobed shape on Wednesday, saying it looks like a snowman. But Frosty isn't its only doppelganger.
Some space fans quickly got on board the snowman train by sharing enhanced images of Ultima Thule with the addition of eyes, a hat and a carrot nose.
#UltimaThule pic.twitter.com/UhJEWM7Yoq
— David Wilson (@Nursedave34) January 2, 2019
Star Wars fans took one look at the contact binary, which was once two separate objects, and knew right away it looks like adorable droid BB-8. Editor Adam Morgan wrote, "You guys this Ultima Thule fellow looks suspiciously familiar."
guys pic.twitter.com/sjE0Ygf8sr
— Adam Morgan (@adamm0rgan) January 2, 2019
Fans of fine dairy products will appreciate the comparison of Ultima Thule with Italian Scamorza cheese, which has a noticeable bi-lobed look.
— kern🐾panik (@kernpanik) January 2, 2019
The outline of Ultima Thule could also pass as a stylized number 8.
sorry that's clearly from 2018... pic.twitter.com/8LW1cByDdV
— OliB (@1stopportunity) January 2, 2019
Twitter user Stu got up close and personal by zooming in on one of the lobes and spotting what could be the shape of a moose. "Well done team! But you're not the first earthlings to reach Ultima Thule. There is clearly a moose on this thing!" Stu wrote.
Well done team! But you're not the first earthlings to reach #UltimaThule. There is clearly a moose on this thing! pic.twitter.com/lUqSyFtVKE
— Stu (@Stupendous_one) January 2, 2019
The the human tendency to see familiar objects in random shapes, a phenomenon called pareidolia, didn't end there. Someone also thought the smaller lobe looked like a grumpy blobfish face.
— Ethan Atwell (@EthanAtwell) January 2, 2019
Fans of Bloodborne will appreciate how Ultima Thule resembles a spacefaring version of Rom the Vacuous Spider, a boss-level monster from the game.
— Kirinium (@DarkSpoopySouls) January 3, 2019
Food items were a popular comparison, with people seeing the Kuiper Belt object as everything from a peanut to a fried chicken drumstick to melting ice cream and a potato.
this picture of "Ultima Thule" looks suspiciously like this picture of a potato that I took in 2016 ... #UltimaThule pic.twitter.com/wKEPCNXG02
— Cream Of Mushroom (@vaderbettu) January 3, 2019
I commented that one of our Christmas potatoes looked a bit like Comet 67P. I'm now convinced that it's an exact model of Ultima Thule! @NASA #UltimaThuleFlyby #UltimaThule pic.twitter.com/Cv1I7h5Mp0
— Matthew Allen (@UKAstroNut) January 2, 2019
Ultimately, Ultima Thule is a pretty cool space rock that could tell us a lot about the early solar system. It's not its fault it also happens to look edible. At 4 billion miles away from the sun, at least it's safe from any human expeditions that would want to try to eat it.
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