The Farthest Flyby Pt. 1

Note: This is ported content from my previous blog. It may appear in a format different than intended. It is also from a version of myself that was younger and dumber. I like to keep this content around for posterity.

A record is about to be broken by the same spacecraft that holds the current record for the farthest spacecraft flyby in history. This new record will take place in just a few weeks, on New Years Day, 2019. A group of scientists will be busy on Christmas and New Years trying to make sure a spacecraft successfully flies by an object six light hours away and captures good data. I know, the best way to spend the holidays, right? Instead of being with the family, you could always be doing complex orbital calculations and overseeing a complex space operation occurring over FOUR BILLION MILES from the Earth.

Seriously though, that’s some hard work, and I respect that. NASA employees work overtime often. You have to like space, and I mean LIKE space, to work at NASA. But that doesn’t mean they’re not fun people, I bet they’ll still be popping open the champagne on New Years. I personally won’t be working on New Years, but I will be keeping the mission in mind. And when the data from the flyby finally comes in months later, bit by agonizing bit, from the farthest object yet explored in space, I’ll be watching.

Some information about the flyby. As I stated earlier, it’s happening just over 4 billion miles from the Earth (6.6 billion kilometers is the quoted figure). The spacecraft performing the flyby is called New Horizons, which is about to break its own record it made when exploring Pluto. Just look at Pluto in all its glory! That’s what New Horizons’ cameras took!

Pluto by Skeeze on Pixabay

The object that New Horizons will flyby on New Years is known as 2014 MU69. If that’s too many numbers for you, you can call it “Ultima Thule.” It’s a lot smaller than Pluto, and a lot further. That’s what makes it special. It’s so far from the Sun that scientists think that it will give us a good interpretation of what our solar system was like when it formed. It’s further from the sun, so stripping solar radiation is unlikely to have changed it much.

Will it look like Pluto? No. Well, maybe a little. Obviously it will be way different in shape because it is too small for its gravity to turn it into a sphere. According to Planetary.org, “Ultima Thule is dark and reddish.” Notice anything about Pluto? There’s a darker red spot on it. Coincidence?

Well, probably. It could be the same processes or it could be way different, I really don’t know. I’m a space fan, not a full blown astrophysicist. At least, not yet. But what I can say is that these Kuiper Belt objects are insanely more interesting than probably anybody ever thought. They aren’t just cold rocks. I’d like to see more exploration in this region of the solar system. Sure, it’s far and hard to reach, but it’s shaping out to be an astronomical gold mine. Eris is a dwarf planet that I find particularly interesting because it’s almost as big as Pluto (and bigger by mass), but isn’t nearly as popular, probably because it was discovered way after Pluto and never demoted (poor Pluto).

These are just my preliminary thoughts on this historic flyby, which I have been looking forward to for months. And as evident by the “Pt 1” in the title, I plan to talk more about the flyby, particularly what we found there. Ultima Thule may not be as big or as popular as Pluto, but it still might hide some secrets that will be invaluable to help us figure out the mystery of how our solar system formed.

To conclude, I’d like to mention that NASA isn’t the only ones working overtime during the holidays. Kudos to not only NASA employees, but also to law enforcement officers, public safety officers, and other important personnel who have to work during the holidays.

Sources

Planetary.org

New Horizons Image

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2018 12

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