It has been two days since a NASA probe went passed the most distant point which was known to us and it's a pretty big event for scientists. This space explorer probe was flying close to a space rock called Ultima Thule (when I wrote this on the 2nd) which is around 6.5 billon kilometres from Earth. Over the next couple of months, the probe that is so far away from home will send back gigabytes of photos. It'll show us what exactly is out there as it travels on it's mission towards Pluto. Although for the full picture, the scientists might have to wait until September 2020 to retrieve all of it's data.
Before the day, there were massive hype on twitter. I couldn't scowl down my twitter feed without seeing something about the probe. To be fair, it is such an exciting thing. Below is one of the scientists following the New Horizon missions.
On the 1st day of 2019, the radio message was picked up from an antenna in Spain. It had taken 6 hours and 8 minutes to broadcast the message in between to the two points. Below is the first photo of the space rock Ultima Thule,
On Tuesday, this probe has been stated to reach third zone within the unstudied place known as the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is the outer most layer of our solar system. It is such an intesting place for scientists at NASA. The area is full of icy bodies and leftovers from what made up our solar system. Plus, the Kuiper Belt is a region where the sun is so weak. Temperatures never go above 30 to 40 degrees over 0 Kelvin, otherwise known as absolute zero. Or -243.2 to -233.2 degrees Celsius. This means that anything there will be frozen in time and therefore, preserved for scientists. Another reason for intrigue is the fact that barely any collisions. This means that might be the only thing left from the exact time of the solar system forming.
Once the probe enters this new zone, it will flyby a rock within space which NASA has named Ultima Thule. This rock is shaped like a peanut and was unknown to the scientists at NASA before this explorer probe was launched in January of 2006 (Wow! Just a month older than my sister). Ultima was found by the Hubble space telescope in 2014. Obviously for Ultima, this makes the pass over more special as it'll be showing us only slightly known.
But, this is not just a fun event. Scientists hope to use this flyby to understand the chemical composition of Ultima's atmosphere along with the terrain. Something that they can't afford to miss with the closest observation that they've ever got!
I wish them all the best.
Read more about the New Horizon Probe here - http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
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| The NASA probe (Credit: BBC) |
RIGHT NOW, @NewHorizons2015 is as close to Ultima as the Moon is to Earth. In 7 hours we'll be at closest approach and as close as LA is to DC! #NASA #Space #Science #UltimaFlyby #UltimaThule pic.twitter.com/v1gzoRkFpQ— Alan Stern (@AlanStern) 31 December 2018
On the 1st day of 2019, the radio message was picked up from an antenna in Spain. It had taken 6 hours and 8 minutes to broadcast the message in between to the two points. Below is the first photo of the space rock Ultima Thule,
🚨First image of #UltimaThule! 🚨At left is a composite of two images taken by @NASANewHorizons, which provides the best indication of Ultima Thule's size and shape so far (artist’s impression on right). More photos to come on Jan 2nd! https://t.co/m9ys0VhmLA pic.twitter.com/qZu0KL8uJB— Johns Hopkins APL (@JHUAPL) 1 January 2019
On Tuesday, this probe has been stated to reach third zone within the unstudied place known as the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is the outer most layer of our solar system. It is such an intesting place for scientists at NASA. The area is full of icy bodies and leftovers from what made up our solar system. Plus, the Kuiper Belt is a region where the sun is so weak. Temperatures never go above 30 to 40 degrees over 0 Kelvin, otherwise known as absolute zero. Or -243.2 to -233.2 degrees Celsius. This means that anything there will be frozen in time and therefore, preserved for scientists. Another reason for intrigue is the fact that barely any collisions. This means that might be the only thing left from the exact time of the solar system forming.
Once the probe enters this new zone, it will flyby a rock within space which NASA has named Ultima Thule. This rock is shaped like a peanut and was unknown to the scientists at NASA before this explorer probe was launched in January of 2006 (Wow! Just a month older than my sister). Ultima was found by the Hubble space telescope in 2014. Obviously for Ultima, this makes the pass over more special as it'll be showing us only slightly known.
But, this is not just a fun event. Scientists hope to use this flyby to understand the chemical composition of Ultima's atmosphere along with the terrain. Something that they can't afford to miss with the closest observation that they've ever got!
I wish them all the best.
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| The Map of where the Probe is. (Credit: BBC + NASA) |
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