Gadgetory

tonight we're journeying to the most distant object ever explored in the solar system no it's not sure cold and emotionally standoffish stepmother we're going to the Kuiper belt but just like dinner at your stepmothers house it's volatile frosty and it takes way too long to get there I'm Claire Railly welcome to watch this space on the scene at studios in Sydney this is your weekly guide to everything on earth you need to know about space and tonight fuss in your carpet belts we're going on a ride that's right on January 1 to celebrate New Year's Day and NASA is taking us on a journey to the farthest reaches of the solar system you just wanted to stay on the couch and deal with that post New Year's Eve headache oh my sweet summer child nASA has other plans when it came to filling out goals in its dream journal this year NASA wasn't interested in starting that new yoga class it's big new year's resolution was to travel billions of miles through space to explore a trans-neptunian object in the Kuiper belt with the New Horizons mission that's right New Horizons no it's not a multi-level marketing scheme or a New Age cult though let's not lie those two are often the same thing it's NASA's combined effort with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to explore further out in the solar system that we've ever explored it's worth noting this isn't the farthest we've ever traveled the Voyager probes which launched in 1977 passed through the Kuiper belt in the 90s the only problem was we didn't actually know about the Kuiper belt until 1992 by that time nASA says Voyager 2 was deep within the region and Voyager 1 had almost left it this time with New Horizons were taking a really good look but before we do that we need to make like a 90s fashion magazine and get back to basics belt basics the Kuiper belt is a ring of icy space object out past Neptune's orbit starting about 30 astronomical units away from the Sun to give you an idea that's 30 times the distance between the Sun and Earth it's where I store fan noted planet impostor Pluto hangs out when it's not climbing onto Neptune's shoulders under a trenchcoat and trying to get into the planet club speaking of Pluto New Horizons was the space probe that did the first ever flyby past Pluto back in 2015 it brought us phenomenal images of the former ninth planet showing scientists the planets in intricate detail and giving deviantART users an excuse to make more terrible space themed wallpapers but the space probe isn't done yet in the words of aqua we're just getting started shortly after its Pluto flyby NASA chose the next target for New Horizons to check out a relatively small space rock known as 2014 mu 69 because 2014 mu 69 sounds like a terrible combination of a vanity license plate and the worst tinder message you've ever received NASA decided to open a public vote to choose a nickname and somehow avoiding the pitfalls of public voting contests I'm looking at you boaty mcboatface they chose the name Ultima Thule in March 2018 she was great in Kill Bill Ultima Thule is named after the island of thule the mythological land on the edge of the earth in classical myth and cartography that's right don't let anyone tell you that watch this space doesn't give you sweet cartography knowledge but even though it has a name we still don't know much about Ultima Thule it's a Kuiper belt object or KBO that was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in June 2014 it's about a hundred times smaller than Pluto and it leaves about a billion miles beyond Pluto or roughly 46 astronomical units from the Sun at its furthest point and based on observations made by NASA's new Horizons team mu 69 could actually be two objects plot twist but NASA wants to know more based on its calculations NASA reckons Ultimo was formed 4.5 or 4.6 billion years ago four billion miles from the Sun and it's been sitting there in temperatures close to absolute zero ever since that's the equivalent of these seven pounds of cryovac tan that you bought in bulk at Costco to throw in the freezer and eat next Christmas NASA reckons that Ultima or the space ham could be the best possible sample of the ancient solar nebula that's the nebula that birthed our solar system that we've ever studied New Horizons will fly three times closer to Altima than it flew to Pluto in 2015 scientists hope it will tell us about the composition of Ultima whether it has an atmosphere and even whether it has its own moons to do all that New Horizons is packed with a bunch of instruments there's Ralph's which measures visible and infrared light Alice for ultraviolet imaging and Rex or the radio science which will measure atmospheric composition there's also a telescopic camera and instruments to measure space dust and solar wind and of course my favorite the pluto energetic particle spectrometer science investigation or Pepsi which measured plasma escaping from Pluto New Horizons tastes the science so there you have it On January 1 while you're washing the confetti off your face and cleaning the cocktail umbrellas out of your hair NASA's new Horizons will be playing designated Dave and driving humankind further into the realms of scientific discovery no need for champagne this New Year's NASA is happy with Pepsi all right that's it for this week's edition I've watched this space if you've enjoyed our broadcast then please make sure to click the like button on your remote and subscribe for further space news as it happens I'm Claire Reilly for Cena goodnight and Godspeed that's a theater warm-up that I learned from a movie about a cult hey babe 2014 M u69 Kuiper belt hangout Thursday space is where I'd like you to be I don't know what people don't want in done I think and space what's the space where you come for cartography jokes and topical hand humor