What We've Learned About Ultima Thule From NASA's New Horizons Mission

Christopher Hutchins

Mr. Ippolito / AP Biology

January 9, 2019

Chang, Kenneth. “What We've Learned About Ultima Thule From NASA's New Horizons

Mission.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/science/ultima-thule-pictures-new-horizons.html.

In an article published by the New York Times, Kenneth Chang highlights the importance of the discoveries made in the recent photographs sent by NASA’s New Horizons mission. The spacecraft flew by the contact binary, known as Ultima Thule, the two names designated to the two formations that morphed together upon contact. The larger of the two, being Ultima, and the smaller, Thule. What some may see as a 21 mile space rock, may be the future of understanding the depth of our universe. Although it will take 20 months to receive all of New Horizons data, the pictures NASA scientists have already received, have given a new view into the formation of our planets and the sun. Research is leading to believe an absence of an atmosphere and craters, but they are still a possibility, as more information is obtained. As well as studying Ultima Thule, the spacecraft has been observed the dust and radiation, which will lead to new discoveries of the red tint given to all objects in the Kuiper Belt.

This article is extremely relevant to our understanding of the world today. By raising awareness to projects such as New Horizons, there becomes a public knowledge of the scapecraft and the work it is doing for the benefit of science and the origin of our planet. In the near future, when Earth becomes uninhabitable, we will need to find a new home, or face extinction. Thus, the expansion of spacecraft such as New Horizons, may possibly help humans to survive in the future.

After reading this article, I was very pleased with the structure, and the resources incorporated into the read. This was not a basic design. Each paragraph was separated by a title and commonly followed by a different form of media. For instance, a video clip of Brian May, leader guitarist of Queen, and astrophysicist was included, as he made one of the images received from New Horizons. The writing of the article was slightly casual, which was effective to someone who may have previous knowledge of the mission, but to those learning about it for the first time, this may have been a mistake by the author. Other than readjusting the language to a broader target audience, this article was very well written and is important for people to educate themselves on.