Unexpected Discovery by NASA’s New Horizons Redefines Solar System’s Outer Edge
NASA’s New Horizons has discovered unexpectedly high dust levels in the Kuiper Belt, hinting at a larger expanse or a new belt, reshaping our understanding…
New Horizons News
New Horizons is a NASA space probe launched on January 19, 2006, with the primary mission of performing the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moons, followed by a journey into the Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system beyond Neptune filled with icy bodies and remnants from the solar system’s formation. The spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, providing a wealth of data that transformed our understanding of these distant worlds. New Horizons sent back detailed images and data that revealed complex landscapes with mountains, glaciers, and an atmosphere on Pluto. Following its successful encounter with Pluto, the mission was extended to explore additional Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). On January 1, 2019, it flew by Arrokoth (formerly known as Ultima Thule), which is one of the most primitive objects in the Kuiper Belt, offering further insights into the early solar system’s building blocks. New Horizons continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, sending valuable data back to Earth as it ventures further into the uncharted regions of our outer solar system.
Far Beyond Pluto: NASA’s New Horizons To Continue Exploring Outer Solar System
NASA has announced the continuation of the New Horizons mission, focusing on collecting unique heliophysics data starting in 2025. New Horizons’ mission of exploration of…
Giant Ice Volcanos on Pluto May Have Formed From Multiple Cryovolcanic Eruption Events
Scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission team have discovered multiple episodes of cryovolcanism may have formed some kinds of surface structures on Pluto, the likes…
Galactic Lyman-Alpha Brightness of Our Galaxy Measured by New Horizons Space Probe
Using New Horizons, researchers determined the galactic Lyman-alpha background is 20 times dimmer beyond Pluto compared to Earth, a first in measuring the Milky Way’s…
NASA’s New Horizons Reaches a Rare Space Milestone – It’s Almost 5 Billion Miles Away and Still Exploring
In the weeks following its launch in early 2006, when NASA’s New Horizons was still close to home, it took just minutes to transmit a…
New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought
New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. How dark is the sky, and what does that tell…
Opposite World: Pluto’s Ice Caps Made of Methane, Turns Earth’s Process Upside Down
The mountains discovered on Pluto during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the dwarf planet in 2015 are covered by a blanket of methane ice,…
First Interstellar Parallax Experiment Ever Conducted by NASA’s New Horizons
For the first time, a spacecraft has sent back pictures of the sky from so far away that some stars appear to be in different…
The Origin of Arrokoth: Birth of a “Snowman” at the Edge of the Solar System
A model developed at the Faculty of Physics at the Technion, in collaboration with German scientists at Tübingen, explains the unique properties of Arrokoth –…
Solar Wind Measurements on New Horizons Spacecraft Help Predict Location of Termination Shock
Southwest Research Institute built instrument confirms solar wind slows farther away from the Sun. Research could help predict when New Horizons spacecraft will cross the…
Meet the Icy World ‘Arrokoth’ From a Billion Miles Beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt
In a fitting tribute to the farthest flyby ever conducted by spacecraft, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 has been officially named Arrokoth, a Native…
NASA Publishes First Kuiper Belt Flyby Science Results
NASA’s New Horizons mission team has published the first profile of the farthest world ever explored, a planetary building block and Kuiper Belt object called…
New Horizons Spacecraft Reveals Amazing Views of Ultima Thule
The mission team called it a “stretch goal” – just before closest approach, precisely pointing the cameras on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to snap the…
New Horizons Captures Incredible Image Sequence of Ultima Thule
An evocative new image sequence from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft offers a departing view of the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) nicknamed Ultima Thule – the…
Astronomers Release Newest and Best-Yet Image of Ultima Thule
The wonders – and mysteries – of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 continue to multiply as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft beams home new images of…
New Movie Shows the Propeller-Like Rotation of Ultima Thule
This movie shows the propeller-like rotation of Ultima Thule in the seven hours between 20:00 UT (3 p.m. ET) on December 31, 2018, and 05:01…
New Ultima Thule Discoveries from New Horizons Spacecraft
Data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which explored the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule earlier this week, is yielding scientific discoveries daily. Among the findings…
New Horizons Reaches Most Distant Target in History
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year’s Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic…