Brian May of Queen releases song to celebrate Ultima Thule fly-by

Dubai: On January 1, US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s [Nasa] New Horizons Mission spacecraft flew by Ultima Thule - the most distant planetary object ever studied. To commemorate the occasion, legendary Queen guitarist Brian May, released a track titled ‘New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix)’, breaking a two decade solo career hiatus.

New Horizons, the unmanned Nasa spacecraft made history on Tuesday as it made a risky fly-by past Ultima Thule - an icy preserve from the early solar system in the Kuiper Belt. The belt is a ring of ice and dust bodies beyond the eight planets. People around the globe were ecstatic about the scientific feat and what it means for our understanding of outer space.

Joining in on the excitement, as some social media users were surprised to find out, was Queen’s Brian May who holds a PhD in astrophysics.

Dr May released ‘New Horizons (Ultima Thule Mix)’ after a two-decade break from solo music to celebrate the occasion. The song features an excerpt from the late scientist Stephen Hawking’s congratulatory message to the Nasa team on initial announcements of the fly-by three years ago. In a Press meet, right before the fly-by, May said that the rock piece was “an anthem to the human endeavour”.

Tweep @califirerabbit wrote: “Congratulations @NASA and @brianmay, I had no idea he was an astrophysicist as well as the legendary guitarist from Queen. He wrote a song celebrating the historic fly-by of a space object called #UltimaThule which is four billion miles away from Earth.”

Social media user @DavidByerman shared the music video adding: “Today I learned that @DrBrianMay the astrophysicist and @DrBrianMay the lead guitarist for @QueenWillRock are the same person. How ... did I not know that already? Here is his nerdy-cool song/animation in honour of today’s #UltimaThule encounter.”

Other social media users could not help but gush over Dr May’s prolific achievements, the song and shared some interesting rhyme trivia.

Social media user Steven Dutch commented on the YouTube music video: “Okay, Brian May was one of the greatest rock musicians ever, then he went back and finished his PhD, then became a university chancellor, then tagged on to the New Horizons team and did this. Celebrities rarely impress me. This guy impresses me.”

Twitter user @b0yle said: “Rocker/astrophysicist Brian May says he was worried about coming up with an #UltimaFlyby anthem because ‘I can’t think of anything that rhymes with #UltimaThule.’”

Social media user @c_gathier posted on Twitter: “That is so awesome, my nine-year-old [son] loves the @DrBrianMay tribute to the #NewHorizons mission of @NASANewHorizons #UltimaThule #Flyby #SpaceRocks... ‘we may never ever reach them, that’s why we have to try’”

Netizen @The_Duffs tweeted: “Just heard the new Brian May single ‘New Horizons’ played from NASA’s Mission Control. Very cool!”