LAUREL, Md. -- Brian May of Queen rang in the new year with fellow astronomers.
May, who holds a doctorate in astrophysics, joined scientists at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, early Tuesday morning as the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the most distant cosmic body ever explored by humans.
The icy object beyond Pluto is nicknamed Ultima Thule. May debuted a music composition written in honour of the event.
May says there's "nothing more exciting in the world of exploration than going to a place about which we know nothing."
Radio signals from the spacecraft take six hours to reach earth.
