Get live updates on New Horizons’ flyby of a distant Kuiper Belt object
The spacecraft will zoom past a space rock called MU69 or Ultima Thule on New Year's Day
KEEP UP The New Horizons spacecraft is going to catch up to a tiny rock in the Kuiper Belt on January 1, just 33 minutes in to 2019.
NASA, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV. APPLIED PHYSICS LAB, SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Editor’s note: This story will be updated December 31–January 1 with dispatches from astronomy writer Lisa Grossman, who will be at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., with the New Horizons team. You can also see her updates on Twitter (@astrolisa) and on Science News’ Instagram feed (@sciencenewsmagazine).
After a journey of almost 13 years and more than 6.5 billion kilometers, New Horizons is about to meet a tiny, mysterious space rock called 2014 MU69.
The spacecraft will zip past MU69, also called Ultima Thule, at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 1, at a speed of 14 kilometers per second. (See our preview story for more on the mission.) The New Year’s Eve party at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will be broadcast on APL's YouTube channel and on the APL Facebook page. (The flyby activities are also scheduled to be broadcast on NASA TV, despite the federal government shutdown.)
No comments:
Post a Comment