Ultima Thule: The most distant celestial object ever to be observed

NASA’s New Horizons space probe will fly by an object that is over a billion miles further than the orbit of Pluto, our solar system’s farthest object to be studied. This new object will be designated 2014 MU69 and is all set to become the most distant object ever to be studied. The flyby is planned to occur on New Year’s Day, 2019. But this object won’t be called 2014 MU69. Instead, the New Horizon team decided to christen it Ultima Thule.

The name was used in medieval times to refer to the most distant part of the world, where few would have dared to venture. The New Horizon probe was launched in 2006 with the primary objective of studying Pluto, which it did, in a flyby in 2015. Its secondary mission was to study a Kuiper belt object.

The name Ultima Thule was selected after an online poll carried out by the New Horizons team. Interestingly, this name came at the seventh position in the poll, whereas the name Mjolnir came first. Comic book aficionados and fans of the Marvel’s cinematic universe would know that Mjolnir was the name of the hammer wielded by Thor, the Norse god of thunder. However, the name Ultima Thule thought to be fitting, given its significance in medieval times. The scientists had not expected the probe’s telescopes to be able to see the tiny object against a background of bright stars.

The New Horizons space probe will be the fifth man-made object to leave the solar system.