Ultima Thule -- an uncharted world over 4 billion miles away -- is coming into view.
On Monday, planetary scientists released a fuzzy image of Ultima Thule, snapped the day prior by the New Horizons exploration spacecraft from some 1.2 million miles away. Previously, New Horizons swooped by Pluto in 2015, capturing the icy, mountainous world in unprecedented detail.
Increasingly rich, detailed images of Ultima will start arriving on January 2, but already the deep space object looks elongated, not round, said New Horizons deputy project scientist John Spencer from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Maryland headquarters of the New Horizons program. The program is a collaborative effort between NASA, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where scientists navigate and control the spacecraft.
"It’s the first glimpse of what's going to get rapidly better from here on -- it’s our first taste," Spencer said.
Ultima Thule as an elongated blob.Credit: JHuAPL/NasaWhether Ultima's surface is heavily cratered and if it has a rich surface geology -- like that of Pluto -- remains to be seen.
"Anything is possible out there in this very unknown region," he said.
Ultima lies 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, in a ring of icy worlds known as the Kuiper Belt. Planetary scientists believe the objects out there have been frozen in time for some 4 billion years -- preserving what happened during our solar system's early formation, long ago.
SEE ALSO:How NASA recorded the eerie Martian wind, without a microphone"The Kuiper Belt is just a scientific wonderland,” Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, said on Sunday.
“We've never, in the history of spaceflight, gone to a target that we know less about," Stern added.
Already, Ultima has proven mysterious. As New Horizons travels closer to the object, the pattern of light reflecting off of Ultima, or its light curve, is inconsistent. With most other objects, these light patterns repeat as the objects spin.
An artist's conception of what Ultima Thule might look like.Credit: nasa"It's really a puzzle," said Stern in a statement last week.
But much of Ultima's mystery will diminish in the next few days. Just 33 minutes into the new year local time, New Horizon's will swoop some 2,200 miles above Ultima, capturing detailed snapshots of the uncharted world. But because Ultima is so far away, these rich images won't be immediately available. The data will be transmitted back to Earth, and on January 2 the first detailed snapshots will emerge of this elongated, though still largely mysterious, object.
Ultima will soon become the most distant world humanity has ever visited.
(责任编辑：探索)
Pokémon Go is so big that it has its own VR porn parody nowChance The Rapper remembers Dre's connections with Apple, apologizes for dissing himIBM jumps into forecasting the weather exactly where you live
iOS 11 on the iPad Pro: It’s a whole new worldPlayStation Now game streaming is coming to PCTeacher absolutely nails it with new homework policy
The war against homework has begun.。A massive pile of homework after a long day at school is enough
...[详细]Starbucks and Lady Gaga team up for 'Cups of Kindness'
Lady Gaga and Starbucks have teamed up to bring in some cash for the Born This Way Foundation with a
...[详细]NASA photo captures the loneliness of the Mars Curiosity rover
If you squint very hard and move your face towards your computer screen, you'll see something truly
...[详细]Twitter Moment shows exactly how devastating the GOP healthcare bill would be for one family
Before the Senate votes on its bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, many people are sharing stori
...[详细]Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary
There's nothing like good friends, good memories and zero gravity to celebrate a milestone.。In honor
...[详细]A Wendy's in Texas is embroiled in intense sign beef with neighbor
A fast food restaurant. A tea company. A beef hotter than a fresh Baconator. At local outposts for W
...[详细]Dwayne Johnson has us scratching our heads over his emoji opinions
In a random, bizarre Twitter exchange Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson revealed his unusual opinion about a
...[详细]30 GIFs that shaped the internet
June 30 marks the 30th birthday of the GIF, and while the internet may still argue its pronunciation
...[详细]Tributes flow after death of former Singapore president S.R. Nathan
The Singaporean government has announced that former president, 92-year-old Sellapan Ramanathan (wid
...[详细]Chinese schools are scaring kids off drugs with psychedelic VR simulations
This is one way to put kids off drugs. 。Children in southern China experienced the "side effects" of
...[详细]MashReads Podcast: What makes a good summer read?
The Rock can't wait to meet Elizabeth Warren, who is apparently a huge 'Ballers' fan
