NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has “touched” the sun – about 8.1 million miles from its surface. In April, the probe crossed into the corona, the sun’s upper atmosphere, according to an announcement from the agency.
“This is a dream come true,” said Nour Raouafi, the Parker project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a video released by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “One of the major goals for the Parker Solar Probe mission is to fly through the solar corona and we are doing that now.”
NASA has wanted to send a probe to the sun since 1958, and after decades of study and delays, the Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018. The probe travels on a spiral trajectory, slowly looping closer to the sun. Readings from the April solar flyby confirmed to scientists that the probe had become the first known spacecraft in history to fly through the corona.
“Flying so close to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe now senses conditions in the magnetically dominated layer of the solar atmosphere – the corona – that we never could before,” said Raouafi in a statement. “We see evidence of being in the corona in magnetic field data, solar wind data, and visually in images. We can actually see the spacecraft flying through coronal structures that can be observed during a total solar eclipse.”
Along its journey, the probe is gathering various data about the corona and solar wind. So far, the probe has discovered switchbacks, zig-zag formations in solar wind, and determined where they form. It’s also shown that the Alfvén critical surface, the boundary where the solar atmosphere ends and solar winds begin, is wrinkly rather than smooth. Discoveries from the probe will help scientists better understand and predict extreme space weather, which can impact telecommunications on Earth and damage satellites.
“I’m excited to see what Parker finds as it repeatedly passes through the corona in the years to come,” said Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The opportunity for new discoveries is boundless.”
For more about NASA’s probe missions, read our article about radio signals from Venus’ atmosphere or check out images from a flyby of Jupiter.
Main image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith
Kait Sanchez is a freelance writer for IGN. Find them on Twitter @crisp_red.
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“This is a dream come true,” said Nour Raouafi, the Parker project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, in a video released by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “One of the major goals for the Parker Solar Probe mission is to fly through the solar corona and we are doing that now.”
NASA has wanted to send a probe to the sun since 1958, and after decades of study and delays, the Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018. The probe travels on a spiral trajectory, slowly looping closer to the sun. Readings from the April solar flyby confirmed to scientists that the probe had become the first known spacecraft in history to fly through the corona.
“Flying so close to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe now senses conditions in the magnetically dominated layer of the solar atmosphere – the corona – that we never could before,” said Raouafi in a statement. “We see evidence of being in the corona in magnetic field data, solar wind data, and visually in images. We can actually see the spacecraft flying through coronal structures that can be observed during a total solar eclipse.”
Along its journey, the probe is gathering various data about the corona and solar wind. So far, the probe has discovered switchbacks, zig-zag formations in solar wind, and determined where they form. It’s also shown that the Alfvén critical surface, the boundary where the solar atmosphere ends and solar winds begin, is wrinkly rather than smooth. Discoveries from the probe will help scientists better understand and predict extreme space weather, which can impact telecommunications on Earth and damage satellites.
“I’m excited to see what Parker finds as it repeatedly passes through the corona in the years to come,” said Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The opportunity for new discoveries is boundless.”
For more about NASA’s probe missions, read our article about radio signals from Venus’ atmosphere or check out images from a flyby of Jupiter.
Main image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith
Kait Sanchez is a freelance writer for IGN. Find them on Twitter @crisp_red.
Continue reading...