Meanwhile .....

[Bazile]

... from the other side of the solar system ( some 4 billion miles away- yet just around the corner ) New Horizons has texted in - '' i'll be back home soon ''

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46729898

[jno]

that's the ... best photo of Ultima Thule I've seen for years. Just needs a little photoshopping.

[Bazile]

jno - put your specs on

[derek-33]

at least they got a signal unlike network three !

[douglas9401]

Much respect to the spaceologists.

[Bazile]

it's a bit cold here - i'll just go and switch on the CH

[Gizmonster]

Quite an impressive feat, insofar as they've just undertaken the most distant ever exploration of an object in our Solar System.

But I remember the launches of Voyager I and II, in 1977, which are now 13 and 10.5 billion miles away respectively.

There's also Pioneer 10 and 11 which are both probably close to 10 billion miles away by now. These were launched in 1972 and 1973, so I don't really remember their launches, but I remember reading abut them as a child.

[ludwig]

I'll never really understand how things can be controlled so precisely over such a distance.

[Dodger666]

NASA has spent an awful lot of dollars on something they have no control over. Worthwhile, or not?