By Calla Cofield, Space.com Staff Writer | June 16, 2017 01:14pm ET
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Paul Maley and Ted Blank, members of the International Occultation Timing Association, observed the occultation of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 on the morning of June 3, 2017, from the Karoo desert near Vosburg, South Africa. Their target field was in the constellation of Sagittarius.
Credit: Henry Throop/NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The team behind the New Horizons space probe's historic close flyby of Pluto recently pulled off a challenging observation of the spacecraft's next target.
On the night of June 2, the mission scientists pointed dozens of ground-based telescopes toward an object called 2014 MU69, which lies about 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto. The team was watching carefully as the object crossed in front of a distant star (an event known as an occultation), illuminating the region immediately around MU69 for just 2 seconds.
The New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to fly by 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019, and taking observations during the occultation allowed the scientists to scan the area for hazards that could damage the spacecraft, according to a statement from NASA. The data could also give the scientists information about the object's size, reflectivity and other characteristics, NASA officials said.
The feat was "the most technically challenging and complex stellar occultation observation campaign ever attempted," according to the NASA statement. The event was visible from a limited region on Earth that included Argentina, South Africa and a large swath of open ocean.
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