NASA spacecraft spots its next destination billions of kilometres from Earth

A NASA spacecraft that explored Pluto has spotted its next target on the outskirts of our solar system.

This week NASA revealed pictures taken by New Horizons earlier this month of a tiny icy world known as Ultima Thule. New Horizons is aiming for a flyby on New Year's Day. It will be humanity's most distant exploration of a celestial body, 6.4 billion kilometres from Earth and 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.

In 2015 New Horizonsbecame the first spacecraft to visit Pluto. Ultima Thule is minuscule by comparison, an estimated 30 kilometresacross. Scientists were surprised New Horizons could detect it from 155 million kilometresout.

"Our team worked hard to determine ifUltimawas detected at such a great distance, and the result is a clear yes," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "We now haveUltimain our sights from much farther out than once thought possible. We are onUltima's doorstep, and an amazing exploration awaits."

The pictures are the farthest ever taken, with more to come.