NASA's New Horizons probe captures furthest object

This time the pictures are important, especially because they show the next target of the probe.

The New Horizons probe has taken photos at a distance from the Sun again. This time the pictures are important, especially because they show the next target of the probe, a small object in the Kuiper belt called Ultima Thule. In Greek mythology, this is the mysterious and distant northern island.

The first appearance of the object on the probe's images is important for the mission workers, so they can better adjust the course.

It's like looking for a hay-horn needle. At these first shots, Ultima is just like a star-like star in the background that's about seventeen times brighter, New Horizons Hal Weaver, a project scientist explains.

No Ultima will be clearer and more easily observable when the spacecraft approaches it. At the time the probe captured the object, It was 172 million miles away.

The New Horizons should arrive at the facility on January 1, 2019, after six o'clock in the morning.

The flight around Ultima Thule will be the first close examination of a small object in the Kuiper Belt and also the most remote exploration of another space body. New Horizons will break its own record in July 2015 as it flew around the dwarf planet, Pluto.

Ultima Thule in view! We've made our first detection of our next flyby target, more than 100 million miles out from our New Year's 2019 close-up encounter in the Kuiper Belt. LEARN MORE >> https://t.co/DHNzillUDB pic.twitter.com/Rmz0EW4RWA

— NASA New Horizons (@NASANewHorizons) August 28, 2018