Ultima Thule

'Shvatit ćemo podrijetlo Sunčevog sustava!': NASA snimila najudaljeniji svemirski objekt

Predviđeno je bilo da snimi 900 fotografija u nekoliko sekundi koliko je trajao prelet tog objekta na udaljenosti od oko 3500 kilometara.

Sci-Tech / Svemir | 02. 01. 2019. u 08:24 Bljesak.info

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NASA-ina sonda New Horizons uspješno je prvi put u povijesti izbliza snimila do sada najudaljeniji svemirski objekt, asteroid nazvan Ultima Thule, koji se nalazi 6,4 milijarda kilometara od Zemlje, objavila je u utorak NASA.

Sonda je poslala signal na Zemlju koji je do nje putovao otprilike 10 sati. New Horizons "funkcionira", rekla je Alice Bowman, dužnosnica projekta.

"Upravo smo izveli najdalji prelet" nekog svemirskog objekta, dodala je.

Sonda je Ultimu Thulu, ledenu stijenu iz razdoblja formiranja Sunčevog sustava, snimila kamerama u 5,33 sati po GMT-u. Slike i podaci koje je snimila počet će stizati na Zemlju kasnije u utorak.

Pogledajte ovu objavu na Instagramu.

#HubbleFriday This festive Hubble image resembles a holiday wreath made of sparkling lights. The bright southern hemisphere star RS Puppis, at the center of the image, is swaddled in a gossamer cocoon of reflective dust illuminated by the glittering star. The super star is ten times more massive than the Sun and 200 times larger. RS Puppis rhythmically brightens and dims over a six-week cycle. It is one of the most luminous in the class of so-called Cepheid variable stars. Its average intrinsic brightness is 15,000 times greater than the Sun's luminosity. The nebula flickers in brightness as pulses of light from the Cepheid propagate outwards. Hubble took a series of photos of light flashes rippling across the nebula in a phenomenon known as a "light echo." Even though light travels through space fast enough to span the gap between Earth and the Moon in a little over a second, the nebula is so large that reflected light can actually be photographed traversing the nebula. By observing the fluctuation of light in RS Puppis itself, as well as recording the faint reflections of light pulses moving across the nebula, astronomers are able to measure these light echoes and pin down a very accurate distance. The distance to RS Puppis has been narrowed down to 6,500 light-years (with a margin of error of only one percent). For more information, follow the link in our bio. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) – Hubble/Europe Collaboration; Acknowledgement: H. Bond (STScI and Pennsylvania State University) Text credit: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) #NASA #Hubble #space #science #astronomy #universe #telescope #cosmos #holiday #wreath #star #luminosity

Objavu dijeli Hubble Space Telescope (@nasahubble) Pro 21, 2018 u 7:05 PST

Predviđeno je bilo da snimi 900 fotografija u nekoliko sekundi koliko je trajao prelet tog objekta na udaljenosti od oko 3500 kilometara.

"Znanost će nam pomoći da shvatimo podrijetlo Sunčevog sustava", kazala je Bowman.

Ultima Thule, otkrivena svemirskim teleskopom Hubbleom 2014., nalazi se u Kuiperovom pojasu, golemom disku stjenovitih ostataka iz razdoblja formiranja planeta u Sunčevom sustavu. Riječ je o asteroidu dugom oko 30 kilometara.

Znanstvenici su odlučili poslati sondu New Horizons da ga istraži nakon što je 2015., devet godina nakon lansiranja, sonda poslala detaljne snimke Plutona, što je bila njezina glavna misija.