What do you hear at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland? Cheers! Scientists and a crowd are celebrating loudly. The New Horizons spacecraft has zoomed past a space object called Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-lee)—4 billion miles from Earth. Something man-made has never explored a world so far away!

New Horizons made it to Pluto three and a half years ago. Ultima Thule is a billion miles farther away than Pluto. At that distance, it takes hours for New Horizon’s radio signals to reach Earth. New Horizons zoomed by the object at 31,500 miles per hour around 12:33 a.m. on Tuesday. Scientists didn’t get the message until around 10:30 a.m. They were relieved. In order for the flyby to work, thousands of calculations had to work exactly right.

Ultima Thule is a tiny, icy object. At least, it’s tiny compared to other objects in space. New Horizon took a photo of the dwarf. The world seems to measure about 22 miles long and nine miles wide. To scientists on Earth, it looks kind of like a bowling pin. It appears to be spinning through space like a propeller. Ultima Thule’s name fits. Long ago, people drew an island called Thule on maps. They imagined Thule was the most northern part of Earth. Adding “Ultima” makes the name mean “beyond Thule.” That means “beyond what is known.”

For scientists, the Ultima Thule flyby is a great way to celebrate a new year. They expect New Horizons to send in more and more photos of the mysterious object.

 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of His might, and because He is strong in power not one is missing. ― Isaiah 40:26

This NASA illustration shows the New Horizons spacecraft. NASA launched the probe in 2006. It’s about the size of a baby grand piano. (NASA via AP Photo)