This new flyby should give us similarly clear views of a far lesser-known object, which is extremely exciting. ", Source: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, An artist's impression of Ultima Thule, which will be buzzed by New Horizons on its optimal path on January 1, 2019, This composite image shows Ultima Thule, the bright spot in the center, as seen by New Horizons. Ultima Thule Shines a Puzzling Light As New Horizons Spacecraft Approaches There's something weird going on with Ultima Thule, the distant object that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will fly by just 10 days from now. It is a contact binary 36 km (22 mi) long, composed of two planetesimals21 km (13 mi) and 15 km (9 mi) across, nicknamed "Ultima" and "Thule", respectively, that are joined along their major axes. Meet Ultima Thule | In Photos | New Horizons Explained | Pluto Flyby. A billion miles beyond Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft is just a few weeks out from a historic flyby of the Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69 – also known by the far more dramatic nickname, Ultima Thule. On Thursday, scientists reported that the color of Ultima Thule matches the color of similar worlds in the Kuiper Belt, as determined by telescopic measurements. “The name ‘Arrokoth’ reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own,” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, a planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute, said in a NASA news release. There may still be objects very close to Ultima, but the team says these would be out of the way and won't pose a risk. Track NASA's New Horizons Flyby of Ultima Thule with Free Pluto Safari App The free Pluto Safari app let New Horizons fans track the probe's flyby of Pluto in 2015, and now it's set to follow the journey past the distant body Ultima Thule on New Year's Day. Team members plan to propose more Kuiper Belt exploration. Thank you for signing up to Space. Science Writer: Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Kristen Erickson GeekWire’s coverage this week is underwritten by Ziply Fiber. "This is what leadership in space exploration is all about.". The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. New Horizons flew past the distant Kuiper Belt Object on January 1, … NASA's New Horizons probe is getting set for the farthest-out flyby in history, and you can provide some words of encouragement to help the spacecraft get across the finish line. There was a problem. In addition to being the first to explore Pluto, today New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft and became the first to directly explore an object that holds remnants from the birth of our solar system," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. NASA Official: The team declared smooth sailing ahead, and the end result was the treasure trove of close-up photos and data on Pluto we were treated to over the months and years following the flyby. We're looking forward to seeing the next chapter.". The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference. ", "Reaching Ultima Thule from 4 billion miles away is an incredible achievement. This report has been updated to reflect the Minor Planet Center’s publication of Arrokoth as the Kuiper Belt object’s official name. "Bullseye!” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). The next full Moon will be on the morning of Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, The Moon will appear full for about three days, making this a full Moon weekend. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland designed and built New Horizons and is managing the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Swooping within just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers), New Horizons flew approximately three times closer to Ultima than it zipped past its primary mission target, Pluto, in July 2015. The Southwest Research Institute is leading the New Horizons science team and payload operations. by Alan Boyle on November 12, 2019 at 10:55 amNovember 12, 2019 at 8:39 pm. "This flyby marks a first for all of us — APL, NASA, the nation and the world — and it is a great credit to the bold team of scientists and engineers who brought us to this point. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is ready to perform an early stow on Tuesday, Oct. 27, of the large sample it collected from the surface of asteroid Bennu. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers, NASA’s new Horizon spacecraft was launched 13 years ago and has reached Ultima Thule, 4 billion miles from Earth. New Horizons Probe's Next Flyby Target Has at Least One Moon, New Horizons Probe Wakes from 5-Month Slumber. 486958 Arrokoth, provisional designation 2014 MU69, is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt. Arrokoth replaces earlier labels for the Kuiper Belt object, including the numerical designation 2014 MU69 and the nickname Ultima Thule, which turned out to be rather controversial. These new images of Ultima Thule – obtained by the telephoto Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) just six-and-a-half minutes before New Horizons’ closest approach to the object (officially named 2014 MU69) at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2019 – offer a resolution of about 110 feet (33 meters) per pixel. This is exploration at its finest," said Adam L. Hamilton, president and CEO of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Perseverance has about 146 million miles (235 million kilometers) left to reach its destination. New Horizons Probe Snaps New Photo of Its Target, 'It's Going to Be Historic': New Horizons Team Prepares for Epic Flyby of Ultima Thule, Engine Burn Puts New Horizons on Track for New Year's Flyby of Ultima Thule, New Horizons Sails Through 'Final Exam' Before Ultima Thule Encounter, After Pluto, New Horizons Probe Draws Near to Its Next Target: Ultima Thule, New Horizons Spies Its Next Target Beyond Pluto — from 100 Million Miles Away, New Horizons Team Aims to Get One Last Look at Flyby Target, New Horizons Spacecraft Wakes Up to Prepare for Historic Flyby of Distant Object, Gravity Assist Podcast: The Kuiper Belt, with Alan Stern, New Horizons, Meet Ultima Thule: Probe's Next Target Gets a Nickname, Gravity Assist Podcast: Pluto, with Alan Stern, New Horizons Team Unveils Extended-Mission Patch, Surprise! “That desire to learn is at the heart of the New Horizons mission, and we’re honored to join with the Powhatan community and people of Maryland in this celebration of discovery.”, Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, praised the choice of the name and said “we graciously accept this gift from the Powhatan people.”. ©2020 FOX News Network, LLC. Flyby data have already solved one of Ultima's mysteries, showing that the Kuiper Belt object is spinning like a propeller with the axis pointing approximately toward New Horizons. Jim Green finds out as he talks to the mission's Principal Investigator, Alan Stern. Their combination of higher spatial resolution and a favorable viewing geometry offer an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the surface of Ultima Thule, believed to be the most primitive object ever encountered by a spacecraft. Perseverance has about 146 million miles (235 million kilometers) left to reach its destination. Director, NASA Planetary Science Division: Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors? Source: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern gives a high five to Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman after the team received signals from the spacecraft that it is healthy and collected data during the flyby of Ultima Thule, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls. Encounters with Distant Worlds: An Interview with New Horizons' Alan Stern (Exclusive )New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern discusses the mission and its Jan. 1 flyby of the mysterious, distant object Ultima Thule. Phillips Davis The higher resolution brings out a many surface features that weren’t readily apparent in earlier images. As the science data began its initial return to Earth, mission team members and leadership reveled in the excitement of the first exploration of this distant region of space. As 2018 draws to a close, one group of people plans to celebrate something far more unusual — a flyby of Ultima Thule, the most distant solar system object ever explored. Legal Statement. The New Horizons science team created the first stereo image pair of Ultima Thule. “Arrokoth” generated none of the controversy that was attached to the object’s previous nickname, Ultima Thule. “Data from the newly named Arrokoth has given us clues about the formation of planets and our cosmic origins,” said Marc Buie, a member of the discovery team from Southwest Research Institute. From here out the data will just get better and better!". Kristen Erickson When New Horizons launched in January 2006, George W. Bush was in the White House, Twitter had just been launched and Time Magazine's Person of the Year was "you — all the worldwide web users." Some 4 billion miles from Earth, New Horizons came within about 2,200 miles of Ultima Thule when it zoomed past the icy object at 32,000 mph on New Year’s day. The snowman-shaped object that NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past nearly a year ago on the solar system’s icy fringe now has a Native American name: Arrokoth, a word that means “sky” in the Powhatan/Algonquian language. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year's Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins of the solar system. With a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing and several years experience under his belt, he joined New Atlas as a staff writer in 2016. “But the science, operations and navigation teams nailed it, and the result is a field day for our science team! This unprecedented precision was achieved thanks to the ground-based occultation campaigns from 2017 and 2018 conducted in Argentina, Senegal, South Africa and Colombia, as well as the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, which provided the locations of the stars that were used during the occultation campaigns.
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