航空宇宙局 spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed
This artist's illustration 得るd from 航空宇宙局 on December 21, 2018 shows the New Horizons 宇宙船 遭遇（する）ing 2014 MU69 - 愛称d "Ultima Thule" - a Kuiper Belt 反対する that 軌道s one billion miles beyond Pluto
A 航空宇宙局 spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and やめる かもしれない the oldest, cosmic 団体／死体 ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion キロメーターs) away.
The US space 機関 will （犯罪の）一味 in the New Year with a live online broadcast to 示す historic flyby of the mysterious 反対する in a dark and frigid 地域 of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12:33 am January 1 (0533 GMT Tuesday).
A guitar 国家 記録，記録的な／記録するd by 伝説の Queen guitarist Brian May -- who also 持つ／拘留するs an 前進するd degree in astrophysics -- will be 解放（する）d just after midnight to …を伴って a ビデオ 模擬実験／偽ること of the flyby, as 航空宇宙局 commentators 述べる the の近くに p ass on www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
Real-time ビデオ of the actual flyby is impossible, since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, 指名するd New Horizons, and another six hours for the 返答 to arrive.
But if all goes 井戸／弁護士席, the first images should be in 手渡す by the end of New Year's Day.
And 裁判官ing by the 最新の tweet from Alan 厳しい, the lead scientist on the New Horizons 使節団, the excitement の中で team members is palpable.
"IT'S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest 探検 of worlds in history!" he wrote on Saturday.
- What does it look like? -
No caption
Scientists are not sure what Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-物陰／風下) looks like -- whether it is 一連の会議、交渉／完成する or oblong or even if it is a 選び出す／独身 反対する or a cluster.
It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 キロメーターs) in size.
Scientists decided to 熟考する／考慮する it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which 開始する，打ち上げるd in 2006, 完全にするd its main 使節団 of 飛行機で行くing by Pluto in 2015, returning the most 詳細（に述べる）d images ever taken of the dwarf 惑星.
"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the 決意／決議 we had for Pluto," said 厳しい.
"If we can 遂行する that it will be みごたえのある."
Hurtli ng through space at a 速度(を上げる） of 32,000 miles (51,500 キロメーターs) per hour, the 宇宙船 目的（とする）s to make its closest approach within 2,200 miles (3,500 キロメーターs) of the surface of Ultima Thule.
The flyby will be 急速な／放蕩な, at a 速度(を上げる） of nine miles (14 キロメーターs) per second.
Seven 器具s on board will 記録，記録的な／記録する high-決意／決議 images and gather data about its size and composition.
Ultima Thule is 指名するd for a mythical, far-northern island in 中世 literature and cartography, によれば 航空宇宙局.
"Ultima Thule means 'beyond Thule' -- beyond the 国境s of the known world -- symbolizing the 探検 of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt 反対するs that New Horizons is 成し遂げるing, something never before done," the US space 機関 said in a 声明.
によれば 事業／計画（する） scientist Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins 適用するd Physics 研究室／実験室, mankind didn't even know the Kuiper Belt -- a 広大な （犯罪の）一味 of 遺物s from the 形式 days of the solar system -- 存在するd until the 1990s.
"This is the frontier of planetary science," said Weaver.
"We finally have reached the 郊外s of the solar system, these things that have been there since the beginning and have hardly changed -- we think. We will find out."
にもかかわらず the 部分的な／不平等な US 政府 shutdown, 誘発するd by a 反目，不和 over 基金ing for a 国境 塀で囲む with Mexico between 大統領 Donald Trump and 対立 民主党員s, 航空宇宙局 行政官／管理者 Jim Bridenstine 公約するd that the US space 機関 would broadcast the flyby.
普通は, 航空宇宙局 TV and 航空宇宙局's website would go dark during a 政府 shutdown.
航空宇宙局 will also 供給する updates about another 宇宙船, called OSIRIS-REx, that will enter 軌道 around the asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve, Bridenstine said.
