Colombian astronomers will be able to observe one of the most distant and oldest objects of the solar system

^{Wikimedia Commons}

For the ancient Greco-Romans, the "Thule" was the northernmost place of the maps. And then, in the Middle Ages, the "last Thule" became synonymous with the most distant place. Now, this name is used to designate a space body located within the limits of the solar system and which in a few days will be studied by Colombian astronomers.

Ultima Thule, whose original name is 2014 MU69, is a small transverse body. Neptunian about 45 kilometers away that on August 3 will briefly eclipse (for 1.4 seconds) the light emitted by a star located about 1,300 light-years away from the Earth. This phenomenon, called stellar occultation, will be observed by scientists in Colombia

Valuable Information for NASA

According to what was collected by the newspaper El Tiempo of Colombia, this brief observation will serve to learn more about Ultima Thule (like its mbad, its rotation period, its diameter, its albedo and it's two bodies instead of one). All of this new information will help us better understand the origins and evolution of our star system.

In addition, the data will be used to redirect the new horizons of NASA's space probe, which will visit the far-distant space body after visiting Pluto in July 2015. The approach, which will take place in January from 39 next year, will approach about 3500 kilometers (three times closer than it was to Pluto). With this approach, Ultima Thule would become the most distant and primitive object ever visited by a spaceship.

^{Ulima Thule traveling diagonally across a dense field of stars. and the noise in the background.
NASA / ESA}
"Ultima Thule is a very small object, so no telescope on Earth is able to see it directly, only the powerful Hubble has reached it. NASA will take advantage of the New Horizons meeting with Ultima Thule next year to address and study it, "says Giovanni Pinzón, professor at the National Astronomical Observatory. First, to be able to make a precise approximation, it is necessary to take data such as those that will be attempted on August 3, "he adds.

Citizen Science of the Southern Hemisphere

The ancient space object can be observed only in the southern hemisphere, which is why NASA chose Senegal and Colombia to observe the shadow that will produce the Stellar occultation This collaboration will also involve the National University of Colombia and the National University. and Autonomous of Mexico (UNAM), who hope to discover more objects in the Kuiper belt, even less than Ultima Thule.

"This initiative consists of setting up observatories to study the occultation on August 3. In the African country, there will be 21 stations and in Colombia, seven others.All will be at different points and each will have a team of three people, who will operate telescopes with mirrors of more than 14 to 16 inches in diameter, with which they will try to observe the occultation, "explains Pinzón.

The Colombian departments where the concealment will be visible will be Chocó, Antioquia, Caldas, Tolima, Cundinamarca, Santander and Arauca. The event will be a great opportunity to encourage citizen science.

According to the scientist, the event will be important because the information obtained can help fill the gaps that exist in the theory of the origin of our star neighborhood. "At its beginnings about 4,500 million years ago, the Solar System was made up of a primitive Sun surrounded by a disk from which the planets evolved. to understand many more details about what happened during the childhood of the Sun. "

Thanks to the data collected by the probe New Horizons, during the nine days of its incursion, the scientists discovered that Pluto there are glaciers, mountains, dunes, ridges; and also traces of an ocean below the surface.

Victor Román
This news was published in N + 1, the science that adds .

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