7.5 billion kilometers away, New Horizons returned a photo, carrying a message out of the solar system

Since the 1970s, NASA has been launching space probes, what is a space probe? Simply put, it is the final destination of these probes, not in the solar system, but will carry the expectations of all mankind, leaving the solar system, even until they run out of energy, but also in the vast universe, carrying the message of human civilization.

Of all the space probes, the most famous is the Voyager series, they have now flown out of the solar system, into interstellar space, the future they will also fly toward the center of the galaxy's black hole, of course, along the way, if you encounter the possible existence of alien civilizations, then, the Voyager series of probes above the information of human civilization, they will also be checked and received.

At present, the closest space probe to Earth, NASA launched in 2006 "New Horizons", some time ago, "New Horizons" finally caught up with the troops, it flew 7.5 billion kilometers away, into the Kuiper belt, about to The new horizons is a new vision of the solar system.

"New Horizons sets a new milestone

When New Horizons first left Earth, it took only a few minutes for ground scientists to communicate with it, and then, as it became more distant, the time it took to transmit messages became longer and longer. Now, when "New Horizons" arrived 7.5 billion kilometers away, humans want to communicate with it, it takes 7 hours to send radio commands to arrive.

The success of "New Horizons" also makes it the fifth space probe to reach 7.5 billion kilometers away, following the Voyager series probes, and the Pioneer series probes, which are about to head towards the outer reaches of the solar system.

It is worth mentioning that in the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons also captured a photo of its predecessor, Voyager 1, which is now hurtling through interstellar space, although New Horizons "Although the photo taken by New Horizons is blurred, it can still be seen that it is Voyager 1, and the location information sent back is also accurate.

For scientists watching New Horizons getting more and more distant, this is also a miracle, after all, many people in the "New Horizons" just launched, still very young, now more than ten years later, some originally single people have long been a family and even have Now more than a decade has passed, some of those who were single have already had families and even children, while "New Horizons" is still moving forward.

"What has New Horizons discovered?

Since the successful launch of New Horizons on January 19, 2006, its journey has been very smooth, first reaching Jupiter at close range and sending back wonderful images of Jupiter for humans, and at the same time, as if "Wandering Earth", with the power of Jupiter, so that it shortened the time of three years to reach Pluto.

In addition, New Horizons also helped humans detect the most distant object in our solar system, the asteroid "End of Days", which is about 6.6 billion kilometers away from Earth. The distance between it and the Earth is about 6.6 billion kilometers.

It is worth mentioning that when the "New Horizons" flyby Pluto and Pluto, through the "New Horizons" back to the photo, many people said that they saw a huge snail, crawling on Pluto, of course, then NASA also debunked the rumor The so-called "Pluto snail" is just a nitrogen-filled iceberg floating on Pluto's ice surface.

Although and we imagine that life is different, let humans for Pluto, have more understanding, of course, the future "New Horizons" will also be outside the solar system, continue to deliver more information for us.

The researchers said that the energy of "New Horizons" can support it to keep in touch with the Earth until the end of the 30s of this century, that is, at least nearly 20 years or so, humans can get in touch with it uninterrupted.

At the same time, to ensure that "New Horizons" can be in good condition in subsequent flights, soon NASA will also be upgraded remotely to it, hoping to make "New Horizons" become more stable.

In addition, and their predecessors, the future when the "New Horizons" completed the exploration mission, will also begin in the vast universe, passing on the message of human civilization.

As early as 2014, NASA plans to "New Horizons" after the end of the mission, so that it is in flight, like the human civilization information in space, of course, the content of these messages NASA will also be "New Horizons" and the Earth before the loss of contact The information content NASA will also be "New Horizons" and Earth before the loss of contact, launched to "New Horizons" to save.

This means that in the future, if there is an extraterrestrial civilization in the universe, then, when they find the "New Horizons", through the "New Horizons" carrying information on human civilization, to understand the Earth, and even get in touch with us, but. Is this right or wrong? What do you think?