NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is sending back images of the most distant object ever seen from earth. Guitarist, Brian May of Queen, who is an astrophysicist, wrote this song to celebrate yesterday's fly by of Ultima Thule, which is 4 billion miles from earth.
The object was named "Thule" by New Horizon's mission staff for a mythical island on medieval maps. The name Ultima Thule means "beyond Thule". New Horizon instruments confirmed the successful fly by about 30 minutes past the new year.
It will take two years to get the full observations beamed back to earth but NASA says the object looks like a bowling pin and spins like a propeller. New Horizons launched in 2006 and the primary mission was to study Pluto. NASA completed that mission three years ago and now New Horizons is now doing the deepest exploration ever by mankind into the universe.