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Happy New Year!<\/p>\n
While we celebrate one more trip of our beautiful planet around the Sun, the spacecraft New Horizons sets a record for traveling to\u00a0the most distant object in our Solar System ever visited,\u00a02014 MU69, nicknamed “Ultima Thule.” This object is currently 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, or more than 43 AU from the Sun, which means it is more than 43 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.\u00a0New Horizons is expected to make its closest approach to Ultima Thule shortly after midnight EST January 1, 2019.<\/p>\n
Check out the flyby in Universe Sandbox:<\/p>\n
Home > Open > New Horizons Ultima Thule\u00a0Encounter in 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n After the record-setting 2015 flyby\u00a0of Pluto and its moons, the New Horizons spacecraft continued its journey through the outer reaches of the Solar System. In that same year, NASA selected a new target for New Horizons to observe: a Kuiper Belt object discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope the year earlier, known as 2014 MU69. Unofficially named Ultima Thule in 2018 based on a public vote, this object will be the most distant ever visited by a human spacecraft (breaking the record\u00a0New Horizons itself set when it flew past Pluto).<\/p>\n The team says it\u00a0hopes to set a new target for New Horizons once it passes Ultima Thule. With plenty of remaining fuel and equipment and instruments that remain in good condition, New Horizons is all set to head toward another distant object in the Kuiper\u00a0Belt, arriving sometime in the 2020s, the team said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Simulations in Universe Sandbox are not perfect representations of reality. Rather, they’re meant to provide a visual — and as a result, a more intuitive understanding — of what is happening farther away than we can see or even imagine. With that in mind, there are a couple of limitations currently in this simulation:<\/p>\n 1 –\u00a0 Trajectory<\/strong><\/p>\n The\u00a0trajectory shown is according to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u2019s orbital predictions as of September 2018. Additional maneuvering with thruster burns is expected, which would change the final trajectory. New Horizons will make an approach much closer than is represented in the simulation: it should pass about 3,500 km from 2014 MU69. Once\u00a0actual trajectories\u00a0have been recorded, we will update the simulation.<\/p>\n 2 – Shape<\/strong><\/p>\n Previous observations show that 2014 MU69 is likely not spherical, but\u00a0rather cigar-shaped. Researchers suspect that Ultima Thule may\u00a0even be two separate bodies that are either orbiting very closely as a binary or actually touching each other,\u00a0which is called a contact binary. We should know more once New Horizons sends back data from its flyby! Right now, Ultima Thule is represented in Universe Sandbox as just a single, spherical body.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Update 22.1<\/a> of Universe Sandbox added three other simulations that feature very distant objects in our Solar System.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1 –\u00a0<\/strong>Voyagers 1 & 2 in Interstellar Space<\/strong><\/p>\n In\u00a0November 2018, more than 40 years after its launch, and long\u00a0since trips past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the Voyager 2 probe entered interstellar space. It now joins its twin, Voyager 1, in exploring beyond our Solar System. They are expected to continue to send back data until they run out of power in 2025.<\/p>\n Home > Open > Voyagers 1 & 2 Start 2019 Outside the Solar System<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2 – 2018 VG18, “Farout”<\/strong><\/p>\n On December 17, 2018, astronomers announced the discovery of the most distant known object in the Solar System, 2018 VG18. Nicknamed “Farout” (can you guess why they chose that name?), the trans-Neptunian object is currently around 120 AU (1 AU is the distance from the Sun to the Earth) from the Sun. While this\u00a0object is the most distant ever observed, there are other known objects, like Sedna<\/a> and the Goblin (see below), that have orbits that take them much farther from the Sun.<\/p>\n Farout’s orbit shown in this simulation is a preliminary estimate; its distance means it will take years of observation before its precise orbit is known.<\/p>\n Home > Open > 2018 VG18: The Most Distant Object in the Solar System<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3 – 2015 TG387, “The Goblin”<\/strong><\/p>\n On October 1, 2018, astronomers announced the discovery of the trans-Neptunian object 2015 TG387, which they nicknamed “The Goblin.” It was observed at about 80 AU from the Sun, but because of its extremely elongated orbit, it likely travels\u00a0to a distance of more than 2300 AU at its\u00a0farthest point.<\/p>\n Home > Open > 2015 TG387: A Goblin at the Edge of the Solar System<\/p>\n <\/p>\nNew Limits for New Horizons<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSimulation Limitations<\/h2>\n
Other Far Out Objects<\/h2>\n
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