Video: New Horizons is coming to the farthest point of human exploration

New Horizons is flying at more than 51,000 km / h to asteroid 2014 MU69, which is expected to reach this object on January 1, 2019.

New Horizons probe is on orbit to asteroid 2014 MU69.

New Horizons probe is on orbit to asteroid 2014 MU69 , the object is 25-45km in size, within the Kuiper belt and 1.6 billion km from Pluto. The exact brightness of 2014 MU69 has not been determined, scientists estimate it reflects much less light than Pluto.

New Horizons has a flight speed of 14.32 km / s compared to the Sun. The probe is designed to fly over the orbit of Pluto. It is supplemented with large reserves of fuel to make the flight through Kuiper belt objects, and a long-range communications system to connect to the ground.