The mission has grabbed the attention of many
people worldwide, but a more recognisable
name is Dr Brian May, guitarist of Queen and
astrophysicist. During the press briefing May told
the story of how Alan Stern had called him and
asked him to make a song about the f lyby of
Ultima Thule.
May claimed that this was quite the challenge as
he “[couldn’t] think of anything that rhymes with
Ultima Thule”. But, lo and behold, Brian May got to
work and created the song titled New Horizons –
Ultima Thule Mix, inducting the mission into rock
and roll fame as well as scientific fame.Rocking and rolling
through the Solar System
31 December 2018 // approx. 8:00pm UTC (3:00pm EST)
1January2019//5:01amUTC(12:01amEST)
Awholenewworld
NASA’s New Horizons flew past the Kuiper Belt object at
approximate speeds of 14 kilometres per second (32,000
milesperhour),whichisover50-timesfasterthanaBoeing
747 airplane. During the flyby the spacecraft’s Long-Range
Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) got to work and revealed the
intriguing and fascinating shape of Ultima Thule. This double-lobe
shape–withonesidelargerthantheother–andallitsdentswere
imaged at a distance of 28,000 kilometres (18,000 miles).
It appears that this is the first Kuiper Belt contact binary object to
be observed.BBuuuucckkeeett
loooaddsssooofdddaaattaaa
After a brief pause of
data transmission in early
January 2019, the spacecraft
begins a 20-month download
of the spacecraft's
remaining data© NASA
Ultima Thule