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Ultima Thule in Sight! New Horizons Probe Snaps New Photo of Its Target
Space.com ^
| December 10, 2018 03:07pm ET
| y Mike Wall,
Posted on 12/10/2018 8:00:02 PM PST by BenLurkin
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has beamed home another glimpse of the distant, icy body it will zoom past just three weeks from now.
The small object Ultima Thule swims amid a sea of distant stars in the new composite photo, which New Horizons snapped with its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera at around midnight EST (0500 GMT) on Dec. 1.
At the time, the probe was 24 million miles (38.7 million kilometers) from Ultima and more than 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) from Earth
New Horizons took the picture 33 hours before performing a record-setting engine burn to refine its course toward Ultima. The burn — the most distant ever conducted by a spacecraft — lasted 105 seconds and changed New Horizons' velocity by about 2.2 mph (3.5 km/h), mission team members said.
The probe remains on course to cruise within just 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of Ultima Thule (which is officially known as 2014 MU69) at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1. That's more than three times closer than New Horizons got to Pluto during the spaceraft's epic flyby of the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015.
New Horizons' encounter with Ultima, which lies about 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto, should be similarly revealing. Astronomers have estimated Ultima's size — about 23 miles (37 km) wide — but they know little else about the object. Indeed, it's unclear if Ultima is a single body or a close-orbiting pair.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; lorri; nasa; newhorizons; probe; science; ultimathule; xplanets
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1
posted on
12/10/2018 8:00:02 PM PST
by
BenLurkin
To: BenLurkin
Cool, even if it’s not Tangerine Dream.
2
posted on
12/10/2018 8:04:24 PM PST
by
King Moonracer
(Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.)
To: BenLurkin
3
posted on
12/10/2018 8:07:12 PM PST
by
Simon Green
("Arm your daughter, sir, and pay no attention to petty bureaucrats.”)
To: BenLurkin
[ Ultima Thule ]
She was great in ‘Gattaca’.
4
posted on
12/10/2018 8:10:29 PM PST
by
SaveFerris
(Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
To: SunkenCiv
5
posted on
12/10/2018 8:18:37 PM PST
by
fieldmarshaldj
("It's Slappin' Time !")
To: BenLurkin
Pardon my ignorance, but why are they looking at just that ONE specific ‘star’ or ‘planet?’
What’s the significance to us of something 4 billion miles away? Is it the center of another Solar System or something?
Also, why didn’t we put Hillary! on this craft? LOL!
6
posted on
12/10/2018 8:23:45 PM PST
by
Diana in Wisconsin
( "Why can't you be more like Lloyd Braun?")
To: BenLurkin
Is that a Kuiper Belt object?
7
posted on
12/10/2018 8:35:57 PM PST
by
familyop
("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
To: SaveFerris
She was great in ‘Gattaca’.
Remember da rules...
8
posted on
12/10/2018 8:40:53 PM PST
by
amorphous
To: Simon Green
Porkins done got blowed up. Hope New Horizons fares better.
9
posted on
12/10/2018 8:43:32 PM PST
by
NorthMountain
(... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
To: amorphous
10
posted on
12/10/2018 8:45:29 PM PST
by
SaveFerris
(Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
To: BenLurkin
Location:
To: BenLurkin
I think I see water and gold on it.
12
posted on
12/10/2018 9:45:54 PM PST
by
itsahoot
(Welcome to the New USA where Islam is a religion of peace and Christianity is a mental disorder.)
To: itsahoot
Yes, but it’s those co-eds dancing the hula in yoga pants I saw.
13
posted on
12/10/2018 10:05:42 PM PST
by
BenLurkin
(The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
To: Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; 2ndDivisionVet; azishot; ...
14
posted on
12/10/2018 10:06:25 PM PST
by
bitt
("Let justice be done though the heavens fall".)
To: amorphous
15
posted on
12/10/2018 10:18:28 PM PST
by
Trump_the_Evil_Left
(FReeper formerly known as Enchante (registered Sept. 5, 2001), back from the wild....)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
This is bonus science. Its primary mission was Pluto.
16
posted on
12/11/2018 3:10:57 AM PST
by
SunTzuWu
To: BenLurkin; bitt
***
changed New Horizons' velocity by about 2.2 mph Now there is a speed I can relate to! 👴
17
posted on
12/11/2018 3:17:03 AM PST
by
Bob Ireland
(The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
The original mission was a fly by of Pluto. This object happened to be close to the trajectory of the probe so it was rerouted to do a fly by .
18
posted on
12/11/2018 3:20:47 AM PST
by
Nateman
(If the left is not screaming, you are doing it wrong)
To: BenLurkin
Some triva : the power source for this probe to Pluto is Plutonium. The man made element was named after Pluto . Thulium is element #69 and named after Thul a mythical city in the far north . Ultima Thule will be the farthest object ever visited by a probe.
19
posted on
12/11/2018 3:30:57 AM PST
by
Nateman
(If the left is not screaming, you are doing it wrong)
To: Diana in Wisconsin
It was the most interesting thing they could steer it towards after the Pluto flyby.
20
posted on
12/11/2018 5:38:11 AM PST
by
thoughtomator
(Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 2)
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