The nerdiest New Year’s party in the solar system happened 6.5 billion kilometres from Earth, where a lone, intrepid spacecraft just flew past the farthest object humans have ever explored. Way out in the Kuiper belt, they knew, Ultima Thule was growing larger in New Horizon’s field of view, glowing like a full moon. It had been 30 years since the mission to the outer reaches of the solar system was first conceived. Are you jazzed?”“New Horizons is at Ultima Thule,” Stern proclaimed. Ultima Thule is 1 percent the size of Pluto, and New Horizons must get four times closer to image it.

Source: thestar January 01, 2019 16:18 UTC