NASA's New Horizons mission has broken all records of space exploration by exploring deep space objects beyond Pluto, such as Ultima Thule. Here's a look at its journey since 2006
Artist's impression of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt Object. Credit: NASA
Launched on January 19, 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft made history by crossing the farthest object from our solar system—beyond Pluto—called the Ultima Thule or MU69 on the morning of January 1, 2019, breaking all previous records of space exploration. Credit: NASA
The predicted position of the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule is at the center of the yellow box, and is indicated by the yellow crosshairs, just above and left of a nearby star that is approximately 17 times brighter than Ultima. Images taken during the flyby—which brought New Horizons to within just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima—revealed that the Kuiper Belt object may have a shape similar to a bowling pin, spinning end over end, with dimensions of approximately 20 by 10 miles (32 by 16 km). Credit: NASA
Another possibility is that Ultima could be two objects orbiting each other. Flyby data shows the object spinning like a propeller with the axis pointing approximately toward New Horizons. Credit: NASA
New Horizons soars past Jupiter as the volcanic moon Io passes between the spacecraft and planet. The spacecraft, travelling for almost 13 years now, has provided insights to scientists like never before. A year after its launch, in February 2007, it swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost, and sent home vibrant images of its moons. Credit: NASA
The spacecraft conducted a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in summer 2015. This image of haze layers above Pluto’s limb was taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. About 20 haze layers are seen; the layers have been found to typically extend horizontally over hundreds of kilometers, but are not strictly parallel to the surface. Credit: NASA
Using Hubble Space Telescope images, New Horizons team members have discovered four previously unknown moons of Pluto: Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos. This is a picture of Pluto’s moon Nix. Credit: NASA
This image obtained with the Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera aboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows the night side of Pluto’s large, Texas-sized moon Charon, against a star field, lit by faint, reflected light from Pluto itself. Credit: NASA
The mission found evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto’s surface, at the left edge of its bright heart-shaped area. Credit: NASA
The flyby is the centerpiece of the New Horizons extended mission that also includes observations of more than two-dozen other Kuiper Belt objects, as well as measurements of the plasma, gas and dust environment of the Kuiper Belt. Credit: NASA
Nothing even like MU69 has ever been explored before. The spacecraft will continue its exploration of the Kuiper Belt until at least 2021. And, team members plan to propose more Kuiper Belt exploration. Credit: NASA
