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Old January 5th 19, 04:20 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
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Default New Horizons "stellar" course?

On Saturday, January 5, 2019 at 9:46:43 AM UTC-5, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
wrote:
On Friday, January 4, 2019 at 8:51:04 AM UTC-5, JBI wrote:
Cannot find this information anywhere, but curious where New Horizons
would be heading in the long term, in other words what star? And also
are there any more visits to other objects planned besides the latest?
Thank you.


It seems to be heading in the general direction of Xi 1,2 Sagittarii,
less than a degree to the east of those stars, perhaps.


Different from the Pioneer and Voyager probes (and the future Project
Breakthrough Starshot), New Horizons is (currently) not supposed to leave
the Sol system in the first place, but to investigate Kuiper Belt objects
“at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit”.. (Originally it was not
even supposed to explore beyond Pluto–Charon; the Kuiper Belt mission is
already the mission extension).

Read the mission description before you jump to conclusions (extrapolate a
trajectory) only from a *current* heading.


The thing is heading OUT of the Solar System on an interstellar trajectory. Its current heading is approximately the same one it had after it had passed Pluto-Charon in July 2015. Unless it hits something substantial, it's gone.