{"id":15157,"date":"2017-11-08T14:14:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T19:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15157"},"modified":"2017-11-08T14:14:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T19:14:38","slug":"enter-name-for-kuiper-belt-object-that-new-horizons-will-visit-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15157","title":{"rendered":"Enter name for Kuiper Belt object that New Horizons will visit in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new NASA naming contest:<\/p>\n

Help Nickname New Horizons\u2019 Next Flyby Target
\n<\/a><\/strong>NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is looking
\nfor your ideas on what to informally name its next flyby destination,
\na billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) past Pluto.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Artist’s concept of NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft flying by 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019. Early observations hint at the Kuiper Belt object being either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies with diameters near 20 and 18 kilometers (12 and 11 miles). Credits: NASA\/JHUAPL\/SwRI\/Carlos Hernandez<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On New Year\u2019s Day 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft<\/a> will fly past a small, frozen world in the Kuiper Belt<\/a>, at the outer edge of our solar system. The target Kuiper Belt object (KBO) currently goes by the official designation “(486958) 2014 MU69.” NASA and the New Horizons team are asking the public for help in giving \u201cMU69\u201d a nickname to use for this exploration target.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Horizons made history two years ago with the first close-up look at Pluto, and is now on course for the farthest planetary encounter in the history of spaceflight,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to bring the public along on this exciting mission of discovery.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After the flyby, NASA and the New Horizons project plan to choose a formal name to submit to the International Astronomical Union, based in part on whether MU69 is found to be a single body, a binary pair, or perhaps a system of multiple objects. The chosen nickname will be used in the interim.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Horizons has always been about pure exploration, shedding light on new worlds like we\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. \u201cOur close encounter with MU69 adds another chapter to this mission\u2019s remarkable story. We\u2019re excited for the public to help us pick a nickname for our target that captures the excitement of the flyby and awe and inspiration of exploring this new and record-distant body in space.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The naming campaign is hosted by the SETI Institute<\/a> of Mountain View, California, and led by Mark Showalter, an institute fellow and member of the New Horizons science team. The website includes names currently under consideration; site visitors can vote for their favorites or nominate names they think should be added to the ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign is open to everyone,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cWe are hoping that somebody out there proposes the perfect, inspiring name for MU69.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The campaign will close at 3 p.m. EST\/noon PST on Dec. 1. NASA and the New Horizons team will review the top vote-getters and announce their selection in early January.<\/p>\n

Telescopic observations of MU69, which is more than 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, hint at the Kuiper Belt object being either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies \u2013 meaning the team might actually need two or more \u00a0temporary tags for its target.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Kuiper Belt Objects have had informal names at first, before a formal name was proposed. After the flyby, once we know a lot more about this intriguing world, we and NASA will work with the International Astronomical Union to assign a formal name to MU69,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cUntil then, we\u2019re excited to bring people into the mission and share in what will be an amazing flyby on New Year\u2019s Eve and New Year\u2019s Day, 2019!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

To submit your suggested names and to vote for your favorites, go to:\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/frontierworlds.seti.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new NASA naming contest: Help Nickname New Horizons\u2019 Next Flyby Target NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is looking for your ideas on what to informally name its next flyby destination, a billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) past Pluto. On New Year\u2019s Day 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft will fly … Continue reading Enter name for Kuiper Belt object that New Horizons will visit in 2019<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contests-and-games","category-titan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-3Wt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11297,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11297","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":0},"title":"Video of New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system + Kuiper Belt target candidate chosen for flyby","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this excellent animation of the New Horizons probe flying out from earth and past Pluto:\u00a0To Pluto and Beyond: Animating New Horizons\u2019 Flight Through the Pluto System -\u00a0Pluto New Horizons https:\/\/youtu.be\/ds_OlZnV9qk === A\u00a0candidate\u00a0target out in the Kuiper Belt\u00a0for the\u00a0New Horizons probe to fly by has been chosen: NASA\u2019s New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"NewHorizonsKBOencounter[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17980,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17980","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":1},"title":"New Horizons: High-res images of Ultima Thule + New documentary “Summiting the Solar System”","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, the New Horizons mission released the highest resolution images yet of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which the probe flew by on January 1st: Spot On! New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of Ultima Thule The mission team called it a \"stretch goal\" \u2013 just before\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/ca06_linear_m2_to_22_rot2701.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11659,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11659","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":2},"title":"New Horizons: Maneuvering for Kuiper Belt target + Family portrait of Pluto’s moons","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe, which is still returning data from its encounter with Pluto, will\u00a0fly by\u00a0another distant object on January 1, 2019 if everything goes as planned. The spacecraft has just carried out the second in a series of four maneuvers propelling it toward an encounter with the ancient Kuiper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no%20date[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1-268x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17420,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17420","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons to make New Years flyby of Ultima Thule","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe made its flyby of Pluto in July of 2015 and then sped on into the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of space inhabited by debris from the earliest era in the formation of the solar system. As a mission bonus, the trajectory of the spacecraft was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/kuiperBeltChart1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17464,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17464","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":4},"title":"New Horizons images begin to unveil Ultima Thule","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Higher resolution images of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule have now been transmitted from the New Horizons probe (see earlier postings here and here). On Wednesday the New Horizons project released the following: NASA's New Horizons Mission Reveals Entirely New Kind of World Images of the Kuiper Belt object\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/UltimaThule-20190102-pr.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17638,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17638","url_meta":{"origin":15157,"position":5},"title":"New Horizons: Sharpest image yet of Ultima Thule","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest images of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule from New Horizons at JHU\/APL: New Horizons' Newest and Best-Yet View of Ultima Thule The wonders \u2013 and mysteries \u2013 of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 continue to multiply as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft beams home new images of its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pluto and beyond"","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/CA06_deconvolved1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15159,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15157\/revisions\/15159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}