New Horizons heads for flyby of space rock 4bn miles from Earth

Probe could get as close as 2,200 miles from Ultima Thule before beaming back images

A Nasa probe will perform the most distant flyby in history in the early hours of New Year’s Day when it barrels past a space rock called Ultima Thule on the outer edge of the solar system.

Unless gremlins intervene, the New Horizons spacecraft will zoom by the cosmic body at 5.33am GMT and snap thousands of photographs of the dark, icy body as it speeds on into the void.

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from World news | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2EZloCl