Queen guitarist Brian May brought his two biggest passions — music and astrophysics — together on New Year's Eve with the support of NASA to celebrate a milestone in the journey of the New Horizons space probe.
The release of May's new song, "New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix)," coincided with the probe's flyby of the Ultima Thule, a snowman-shaped object in our solar system's far out Kuiper Belt.
May, who is both a doctor of astrophysics and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, joined the New Horizons project in 2015 as a collaborator. The new song features vocals by May and all the pristine orchestration of a Queen album cut.
You can hear the song above in a video which also depicts the 13-year journey of the New Horizons probe.
May has issued updates about the project himself via his Instagram account.
"The Holy Grail of Solar System formation?" May wondered in a post Wednesday containing one of the first images of the Ultima Thule.
"Ultima Thule is by far the oldest known and most unspoilt relic of the early solar system - that same solar system that was born so that you and I could be born!" he added in a Thursday post, following a NASA press conference on the agency's findings.
"My huge thanks to Alan Stern and the entire NH team for allowing me to hang out while they pulled off the space exploration scoop of the century," he added, before reminding followers to check out his musical tribute to the probe.
As more detailed images of the Ultima Thule are beamed to Earth, NASA hopes to garner more understanding of the solar system's earliest days.
Photo: Getty Images