Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™

LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE

Ultima Thule and the dark side of the moon

Ultima Thule
Ultima Thule Source: AAP Image/NASA via AP

New Horizons' flyby took place about a billion miles beyond Pluto, which was until now the most faraway world ever visited up close by a spacecraft.


Published

By Carlo Oreglia

Source: SBS



Share this with family and friends


New Horizons' flyby took place about a billion miles beyond Pluto, which was until now the most faraway world ever visited up close by a spacecraft.


The returned New Horizons spacecraft has sent back the first image of the ice world, Ultima Thule.

Ultima Thule is one of hundreds of thousands of space rock in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy celestial bodies just outside Neptune's orbit.

The flyby took place about a billion miles beyond Pluto, which was until now the most faraway world ever visited up close by a spacecraft.

Luca Cortese, Senior Research Fellow at the Internation Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, of The University Western Australia explores with SBS the significance of this enterprise.

Listen to SBS Italian every day from 8am to 10am. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


Latest podcast episodes

Follow SBS Italian

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our exclusive in-language podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS Italian News

Watch it onDemand

Stream now