Skip to main content

NASA spacecraft hurtles toward tiny, icy world beyond Pluto

This illustration provided by NASA shows the New Horizons spacecraft.
A tiny, icy world a billion miles beyond Pluto is getting a New Year’s Day visitor.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is set to fly past a mysterious object nicknamed Ultima Thule (TOO-lee) at 12:33 a.m. Tuesday. It will become the most distant world ever explored by humankind.

The flyby comes 3½ years after New Horizons swung past Pluto and yielded the first close-ups of the dwarf planet.

This time, the drama will unfold 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, so far away it will be 10 hours before flight controllers in Laurel, Maryland, know whether the spacecraft survived the close encounter.

Lead scientist Alan Stern said Monday the team has worked years for this moment and now, “it’s happening!!”



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

خون عطیہ کرنے کے عالمی دن کی مناسبت سے پاکستان میں متعدد سرگرمیوں کا انعقاد کیا گیا، 20لاکھ لوگوں نے فیس بک پر سائن اَپ کیا

Bilawal’s arrest will be a dangerous game: Khursheed Shah

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Syed Khursheed Shah on Sunday said that the arrest of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would be a dangerous game, one that would create ripples in the country. Speaking to media in Islamabad, Shah said Prime Minister Imran Khan is creating uncertainty and a crisis situation in the country. “He [Imran Khan] has done nothing except arrest politicians. He is being asked to do things which no other politician would do.” Responding to a question regarding Bilawal’s arrest, Shah said that a lot of courage is needed to arrest him. “It is not possible to arrest him but nothing certain can be said about this government.” "There is no need for in-house change in Sindh because the cases have been made on the bases of assumptions and it is not possible to impose governor’s rule in the province,” the senior PPP leader said. “There is no place for it in the constitution. Governor rule can only be imposed through martial law.” The former opposition le

Slain JUI-S leader’s secretary ‘missing’ since the last few days

Late Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam-Sami (JUI-S) leader Maulana Samiul Haq’s secretary Syed Ahmed Shah has been missing from his house in Akora Khattak for the last three or four days. Mr Shah is said to have discovered Maulana Samiul Haq’s body. The late JUI-S leader was stabbed in his bedroom in a Safari Villa in Bahria Town in Nov 2. Doctors said the former senator had died an hour before he was brought to the hospital. Syed Ahmed Shah was also the first to inform Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, the son of Maulana Samiul Haq, of his father’s death. Syed Ahmed Shah discovered Maulana Samiul Haq’s body, informed his son of his death Maulana Hamid said Mr Shah has been missing the last three or four days. He said his family has been trying to call him on his mobile phone and that his phone has been switched off. He said Mr Shah may have either gone into hiding himself or may have been taken by the law enforcement or intelligence agencies in connection with the investigation into the JUI-S le