A Close Look at the Most Distant Object NASA Has Ever Explored
In the icy reaches of the solar system, NASA discovered a snowman-shaped object.
The most distant object that NASA has ever investigated up close, 2014 MU69, orbits near the edge of the solar system, well beyond Pluto. Because of the desolate conditions out there, it’s remained virtually unchanged since the beginning of the solar system. Less than five years ago, astronomers didn’t even know it existed. Now they know what it looks like, thanks to images captured by a passing spacecraft.
The New Horizons spacecraft arrived at 2014 MU69—4 billion miles away from Earth—on New Year’s Eve, snapped hundreds of photographs, and then continued on, headed even deeper into space. On Wednesday, released the first set
