Video: New Horizons animation

NASA’s New Horizons space probe, 10 days from a one-shot encounter with enigmatic Pluto, stopped collecting science data Saturday after a technical problem interrupted the spacecraft’s tightly-choreographed flight plan.

Marc Buie, Occultation Team Lead, reveals what we know so far about the shape of Ultima Thule as New Horizons races towards its encounter with the Kuiper Belt object.

After an exhaustive search for heretofore unseen rings, small moons or other space debris, senior managers have concluded that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, hurtling toward a July 14 flyby of Pluto at more than 30,000 mph, can safely stay on its current course without undue fears of a mission-ending impact.