NASA's New Horizons probe has measured the "cosmic optical background" using its LORRI instrument:
Images taken by NASA's New Horizons mission on its way to Pluto, and now the Kuiper Belt, have given scientists an unexpected tool for measuring the brightness of all the galaxies in the universe, said a Rochester Institute of Technology researcher in a paper published this week in Nature Communications.
[...] "This result shows some of the promise of doing astronomy from the outer solar system," Zemcov said. "What we're seeing is that the optical background is completely consistent with the light from galaxies and we don't see a need for a lot of extra brightness; whereas previous measurements from near the Earth need a lot of extra brightness. The study is proof that this kind of measurement is possible from the outer solar system, and that LORRI is capable of doing it." Spacecraft in the outer solar system give scientists virtual front-row seats for observing the cosmic optical background. The faint light from distant galaxies is hard to see from the inner solar system because it is polluted by the brightness of sunlight reflected off interplanetary dust in the inner solar system.
New Horizons was put into hibernation mode on April 7th. The spacecraft is more than half-way to its next destination, 2014 MU69, which it will reach around January 1st, 2019:
Measurement of the cosmic optical background using the long range reconnaissance imager on New Horizons (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15003) (DX)
Related Stories
Astronomers have observed the tiny Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69 as it passed in front of a background star:
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft changed our view of the outer solar system forever when it flew by Pluto in 2015. Now, it's on its way to the next destination: a Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known only as 2014 MU69. Although the spacecraft won't reach its target until New Year's Day in 2019, NASA is already looking ahead to learn as much about 2014 MU69 as possible, thanks to a convenient temporary alignment that recently allowed the object to pass in front of a background star.
[...] "This effort, spanning six months, three spacecraft, 24 portable ground-based telescopes, and NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory was the most challenging stellar occultation in the history of astronomy, but we did it!" said Alan Stern, the New Horizons mission principal investigator, in a press release. "We spied the shape and size of 2014 MU69 for the first time, a Kuiper Belt scientific treasure we will explore just over 17 months from now. Thanks to this success we can now plan the upcoming flyby with much more confidence."
The physical characteristics of 2014 MU69 are still unclear. It is estimated to have a diameter between 18 and 41 km, but may be composed of multiple objects.
Previously: New Horizons Measures the Brightness of Galaxies Before Going Into Hibernation
New Horizons has taken images of the "Wishing Well" star cluster and the Kuiper belt objects 2012 HZ84 and 2012 HE85 using its LORRI instrument. New Horizons was over 6.12 billion kilometers (40.9 AU) away from Earth when it took the images (archive), beating the previous record by Voyager 1:
New Horizons was even farther from home than NASA's Voyager 1 when it captured the famous "Pale Blue Dot" image of Earth. That picture was part of a composite of 60 images looking back at the solar system, on Feb. 14, 1990, when Voyager was 3.75 billion miles (6.06 billion kilometers, or about 40.5 astronomical units [AU]) from Earth. Voyager 1's cameras were turned off shortly after that portrait, leaving its distance record unchallenged for more than 27 years.
[...] During its extended mission in the Kuiper Belt, which began in 2017, New Horizons is aiming to observe at least two-dozen other KBOs, dwarf planets and "Centaurs," former KBOs in unstable orbits that cross the orbits of the giant planets. Mission scientists study the images to determine the objects' shapes and surface properties, and to check for moons and rings. The spacecraft also is making nearly continuous measurements of the plasma, dust and neutral-gas environment along its path.
Previously: New Horizons Measures the Brightness of Galaxies Before Going Into Hibernation
New Horizons Target 2014 MU69 May be a "Contact Binary"
New Horizons Flyby Plan Finalized; Pluto Features Named
Tiny Moon Possibly Orbiting 2014 MU69
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @11:43AM (5 children)
I doubt NASA is honest, and believe they intentionally misreport space.
My hypothesis is that they cannot really go to space, and same applies for the other space agencies. That's why they keep talking with big words about space, to keep alive the impression that they are experts in something impossible to verify, until recently.
They promote "we humans evolved and we started exploring space 70 years ago" but does the place you live in look like a space-age place? 70 years, really?
Indicators of NASA trying to discharge their bill include the "bubbles in space" incident, forcing them in retreat. NASA sells this as "private initiative will take over" giving the stage to "people on Mars" and "drones mining asteroids", even though the actual real-life machinery and labs do not look as convincing as the accompanying artistic impressions of machinery and labs. This is the only constant element for the 70 years of humanity's golden space age.
"Going to space" is a gold rush that involves acquiring a huge strategic potential and unlimited resources, and swarms of space plumbers, engineers, colonists, navigators, craftsmen, healers and more in the most epic mobilization humanly performed.
Human pioneering is an unstoppable urge. If it was possible for a space rush to ever happen, it would have, because humans have been ripe for this for 70 years now. Instead, humans only get a handful of bad pictures. NASA never went to space, and now with the internet it is becoming impossible for them to back their claim that they "go to space" and this is becoming more and more obvious.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @12:12PM
Wow, that's dumb.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @02:15PM (1 child)
"we humans evolved and we started exploring space 70 years ago"
Pokemon is not a scientifically accurate representation of evolution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @03:18PM
Pokemon is not a scientifically accurate representation of evolution.
But Pokemon is a scientifically accurate representation of intelligent design.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday April 15 2017, @08:13PM (1 child)
So how did all the satellites get into space? They put the the satellite on earth and prayed to god, and then god put the satellites into orbit? Or is it the aliens who secretly visit out planet and put our satellites in orbit in exchange to being allowed to take anal probes of unsuspecting people?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @04:18AM
I think GP believes (or more likely, is a troll pretending to believe) the satellites didn't go into space. All the pictures "from space" are from that top-secret soundstage where they faked the moon landings, and anyone who claims to have a device that uses satellites to tell them their location is really just using their good sense of direction and is in on the conspiracy!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 15 2017, @02:07PM
Somehow I doubt this.