NASA provides first image from record-setting flyby of Ultima Thule

[NRaleighLiberal]

Source: CNN



(CNN)The new year on Earth began with a record-setting space mission 4 billion miles away -- a first look at an object on the edge of our solar system.

Mission scientists from NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have confirmed that the New Horizons spacecraft conducted a flyby of Ultima Thule, a Kuiper Belt object that's a billion miles beyond Pluto.

Although the flyby occurred at 12:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the spacecraft is so far from Earth that the "phone-home" signal didn't reach us until about 10:30 a.m. ET.

Mission scientists were relieved about the success because there was only one chance to get it right as New Horizons screamed past Ultima at 31,500 miles per hour. This incredible feat was possible because thousands of operations on the spacecraft worked in sync.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/01/world/new-horizons-ultima-thule-flyby-success/index.html

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this is just incredibly exciting, impressive stuff!