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Here's What the New Horizons Trip Found Beyond Pluto
| News Every day | - |
Recently,
scientists on earth received an image of a 90-mile-wide Kuiper Belt
Object (KBO) named 1994 JR1 captured by the space probe using its
on-board Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), Christian Science Monitor reported. The Kuiper Belt ...
Here's What the New Horizons Trip Found Beyond Pluto
By Jenn Loro(staff@newseveryday.com) - 28 May '16 09:33AM
- The
New Horizons space mission has recently stumbled upon interesting
discoveries beyond Pluto along the fringes of the solar system, the
so-called Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). After discovering the KBO named
1994 JR1, the scientists are setting their sights to another one called
2014 MU69 which would help explain the cosmic origins of our
sun-centered planetary system.
As mentioned in our previous report, the Pluto flyby has
already crossed into the Kuiper Belt approximately three billion miles
away from the sun and is being geared up to extend its mission into the
fringes of the solar system.
Recently, scientists on earth received an image of a
90-mile-wide Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) named 1994 JR1 captured by the
space probe using its on-board Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI),
Christian Science Monitor reported.
The Kuiper Belt has triggered a great of interest among astronomers and
physicists because many objects found within the said region in space
appeared to have remained the same for eons since the beginning of the
solar system- offering hints as to how things were during its formation.
The chief aim of the New Horizons mission is to acquire as
much information as it can about KBOs. Following the discovery of 1994
JR1, the team overseeing the space exploration are setting their sights
on a new target. Another distant and mysterious post-Pluto object are
pushing NASA scientists to push the boundaries of their existing
discovery to find out more about the mysterious KBO known as 2014 MU69.
The post-Pluto object is just right in New Horizon's path.
It was reportedly formed in the Kuiper Belt where it orbits. This region
in the solar system barely receives heat from the sun which allows it
to preserve ancient samples that could help explain the birth of our
sun-centered planetary system some 4.6 billion years ago. By carefully
analyzing these samples, scientists will make a breakthrough into
understanding the dynamics and the forces that underpin the birth of the
solar system.
"The Kuiper Belt in general, and the cold classical objects
especially, are the most primordial objects," said Simon Porter, a
post-doctoral researcher on the New Horizons mission as quoted by Popular Science.
"They were never pushed around by the giant planets; they're pretty
much where they formed and haven't been disturbed except for
occasionally bumping into each other."
For scientists involved in the New Horizons mission, a
proposed post-Pluto flyby for 2014 MU69 is both a practical and
economical mission to explore the peripherals of the solar system. The
KBO exploration will only cost less fuel compared to other targets.
Recent estimates put the tentative cost around $700 million.
"New Horizons was originally designed to fly beyond the
Pluto system and explore additional Kuiper Belt objects," said Alan
Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado as quoted
by BABW News.
The spacecraft carries extra hydrazine fuel for a KBO
flyby; its communications system is designed to work from far beyond
Pluto; its power system is designed to operate for many more years; and
its scientific instruments were designed to operate in light levels much
lower than it will experience during the 2014 MU69 flyby."
With the massive positive PR the most recent Pluto flyby is getting,
members of the New Horizons team are crossing their fingers to have
their budget request for the new mission approved.
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