Photo: Courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/ via Reuters
The nuclear-powered space probe has travelled 6.4 billion km to the most distant world ever explored by humankind, a frozen rock at the edge of the solar system that scientists hope will uncover secrets to its creation.
The image shows a reddish surface on the rock.
Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on its journey toward the solar system’s edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons.
As the probe flies 3540 km above Thule's surface, scientists hope it will detect the chemical composition of its atmosphere and terrain in what NASA says will be the closest observation of a body so remote.
