New Horizons has sent back the clearest images of Ultima Thule to date. The new images were snapped just minutes before the spacecraft made its closest pass of the Kuiper Belt object on January 1, in what the science team calls a risky “stretch goal” of the project.
Continue Reading
Ultima Thule's shape has been described as a bowling pin, then a snowman. Now, new images snapped as the probe sped away from the object show that Ultima Thule is more like a flat “pancake” stuck to a “dented walnut,” leaving astronomers puzzled as to how such a shape is even possible.
Continue Reading
On January 1 the New Horizons probe whizzed past Ultima Thule, a tiny world on the fringe of the solar system. The latest image shows the object closer and in higher resolution than ever before. With that improved clarity comes some intriguing new landmarks on the rocky surface.
Continue Reading
More images have returned from New Horizons, bringing Ultima Thule into sharper focus. Where yesterday’s images showed a few blurry pixels that looked like a bowling pin, the new photos reveal the rocky world to be more of a “snowman” shape, confirming it as a contact binary of two large spheres.
Continue Reading
The New Horizons probe has successfully rendezvoused with Ultima Thule, a tiny world on the edge of the solar system. The first images have now arrived, revealing a bowling pin-shaped object that spins like a propeller.
Continue Reading
New Horizons is just days away from its historic flyby of Ultima Thule, a mysterious object on the fringe of the solar system. Ultima now seems to be an unexpectedly “dark” world, and while there are a number of possible explanations, none of them have any precedent in the solar system.
Continue Reading
The New Horizons spacecraft is just a few weeks out from a historic flyby of the Kuiper Belt object, 2014 MU69 (Ultima Thule). After weeks of scans for any potential hazards, NASA has now given the all-clear to buzz the object on an optimal path, which will bring it in closer for a much better look.
Continue Reading
A type of world dubbed a "hot Neptune" has been conspicuously few and far between in terms of exoplanet discoveries, but a new observation may explain why. Hubble has now spotted a hot Neptune named GJ 3470b that’s vanishing at a record rate.
Continue Reading
Researchers have developed an “e-dermis” or electronic skin that could be applied to a prosthetic hand to give the wearer a sense of touch. By using electronic sensors that mimic the nerve endings in the body, the skin can convey both the senses of touch and of pain.
Continue Reading
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has successfully awoken from a planned 165-day hibernation period ahead of its historic flyby of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which is set to take place on New Year’s Day 2019.
Continue Reading
See the stories that matter in your inbox every morning