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On New Year's Day, the NASA probe reaches one of the most distant objects in the solar system, the "2014 MU60" celestial body, located 6.6 billion kilometers from the Earth. It is the most distant celestial body so far, that a human artifact is exploring closely.
NASA has been nicknamed "Ultima Thule" for this 35-kilometer object. A mythologically charged term: Ultima Thule means something like "last country", which is why it was called in the ancient world's far north. The Kuiper belt, in which MU69's orbit is located, resembles the outer limit of the solar system. In this area beyond Neptune, about 2,000 small celestial bodies have been discovered and, in the dark, their long paths revolve around the sun. Presumably, there are many more Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). For a flare, Ultima Thule needs 293 years.
"Example of a planetary building block"
We do not know much more about KBOs. Ultima Thule's flyby must change that and, in addition to the chemical composition data, provide close-ups of such a heavenly body for the first time. Up to 3500 km, New Horizons approaches the block on January 1 (around 18 hours, German time), about three times closer than the probe approached Pluto in 2014. Not only does the small size of Ultima Thule complicate the maneuver. Because of the distance, it takes six hours for a signal from the control center to reach the spaceship. NASA can hardly intervene in case of problems.
This is not just a trip to the end of the solar system, but also to its beginning. Since the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago, Ultima Thule has probably not changed much. The researchers suggest that larger objects, such as the Pluto dwarf planet, were formed from smaller pieces of the Kuiper belt. "We badume that Ultima is the best-preserved sample of a planetary building block ever studied," writes chief scientist Alan Stern on the NASA website. The flyover provides a valuable window on the first days of the formation of the planet.
What are you going to find exactly? "Nobody knows, that's what makes it the most exciting for me," says Stern, "at least the form of Ultima Thule, scientists can guess by far." This probably looks like Ultima Thule to an elongated potato. Even a sort of clod of two rounded objects is conceivable.On January 2, the first image will reach the earth.For 20 months, the spacecraft then transmits all the data of the flight home.If everything goes as planned, New Horizons will then explore other objects in the Kuiper belt. (Editors Tamedia)
Created: 31.12.2018, 18:56 hours ago
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