Brian May releases New Horizons song in honour of NASA mission

Musician Brian May has released the song he wrote in honour of NASA's New Horizons mission, which has successfully received information from a space object 6.4 billion kilometres away.

The Queen guitarist, who also happens to be anastrophysicist,wrote a song called New Horizons,his first solo work in more than 20 years.

He debuted it at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., early New Year's Day.

That was when the New Horizons spacecraft flew by a celestial object nicknamed Ultima Thule, which is 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.

We will never forget this moment. This is completely unknown territory.- Brian May, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist

May saidthe mission represents "the spirit of adventure and discovery and inquiry, which is inherent in the human spirit."

He had joined the team at Johns Hopkins for a midnight premiere of the song he wrote for the big event.

"We will never forget this moment," said May, who led the new yearcountdown. "This is completely unknown territory."