Hello Ultima Thule!
On Jan. 1, 2019, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will make history with the first close flyby of a Kuiper Belt object: Ultima Thule. See photos of Ultima Thule and the historic encounter here! In this image, artist Adrian Mann imagines New Horizons' Ultima Thule flyby for Space.com's sister publication All About Space.
First Color Image of Ultima Thule!
This first color photo of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule reveals the object's red color as seen by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft from a distance of 85,000 miles (137,000 kilometers) during a Jan. 1, 2019 flyby. From left to right: an enhanced color image, a higher-resolution black and white image, and an overlay that combines both into a more detailed view.
First Images of Ultima Thule
The surface features of Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) are coming into focus in these images taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic flyby on Jan. 1, 2019. These images, released Jan. 2, were taken a day earlier from a distance of 18,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) with a scale of 730 feet (140 meters) per pixels.
New Horizons Ultima Thule Flyby Celebration
New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern (center) celebrates with school children at the moment the spacecraft was planned to reach its closest approach to Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule on Jan. 1, 2019 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. It is the furthest flyby in history.
Ultima Thule Bowling Pin
The Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule takes on a bowling pin shape (left) in this view from the New Horizons spacecraft taken on Dec. 31, 2018 just before its flyby closest approach on Jan. 1, 2019. At right is an artist's sketch of the object, which is about suggest it is approximately 20 miles long by 10 miles wide (32 kilometers by 16 kilometers).
Potential Ultima Thule Shape
Data about the distant body Ultima Thule from just before the New Horizons probe's flyby suggest it is a bi-lobed object, or possibly two objects orbiting each other. There is not enough data yet to fully understand its movement.
Best Pre-Flyby Ulitma Thule View
The best view New Horizons grabbed of Ultima Thule before it flew by the distant object.
New Horizons OK Message
New Horizons mission operations manager Alice Bowman celebrates with principal investigator Alan Stern on Jan. 1, 2019, as "OK" signals come back from the spacecraft's instruments after its flyby of Ultima Thule.
New Horizons Ultima Thule Shape Photo
This photo of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) reveals a new clue into the object's shape just ahead of New Horizons' closest approach on Jan. 1, 2019. This photo was taken on Dec. 30, 2018 by New Horizons from distance of about 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers).
Brian May Talks New Horizons Flyby of Ultima Thule
Astrophysicist Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, speaks with reporters ahead of NASA's New Horizons flyby of the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule on Jan. 1, 2019 at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. May composed a special song just for the flyby.
Ultima Thule in Sight!
This is the first detection of Ultima Thule using the highest-resolution mode of the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager aboard the New Horizons spacecraft. Three separate images, each with an exposure time of 0.5 seconds, were combined to produce the image. All three images were taken on Dec. 24, when Ultima was 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from the sun and 6.3 million miles (10 million km) from the New Horizons spacecraft.
