9 science stories to watch in 2019
From the edge of Earth to the frontier of the solar system, there's plenty of science awaiting us in 2019.
Some projects have been years in the making. Others were pushed to the forefront by the demands of a fast-changing world.
Either way, they promise to change our view of the world -- and inspire new questions no one previously thought to ask.
Here's a look at some of the science stories we'll be following in the new year.
NEW HORIZONS PAYS HISTORIC VISIT TO ULTIMA THULE
While you're sipping champagne this New Year's Eve, a spacecraft 4 billion miles from Earth will be making history.
NASA's New Horizons probe is scheduled to fly past a mysterious object known as Ultima Thule at 9:33 p.m. Pacific time on Dec. 31. Situated roughly 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, it will be the most distant object ever visited by humankind.
Ultima Thule is located in the Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped region of icy bodies encircling the sun beyond Neptune's orbit. Because these worlds are so small and far away, scientists know virtually nothing about them.
"We know Ultima's orbit. We know it is about 20 miles across and irregularly shaped and red in color, and that's it," said Alan Stern, the principal investigator for the New Horizons mission. "I just told you everything we know about Ultima Thule."
That will all change at the beginning of 2019, when data from New Horizons reaches Earth.
"We are going to go from a dot in the distance on New Year's Eve to maps on Jan. 2," said Stern, who is based at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "Buckle
