The Summary
- NASA s Parker Solar Probe dove extremely close to the solar surface on Dec. 24.
- The spacecraft should get nearer to the sun than any other human-made object in history within 3.86 million miles.
- The mission was designed to study the sun s outer atmosphere and help researchers learn about how solar storms erupt into space.
On Christmas Eve, NASA had a taste of the sun.
On Tuesday, the agency’s Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any other man-made object in history, making its closest approach to the sun to date.
At approximately 6:53 a.m. ET on Tuesday, the spacecraft, which is roughly the size of a small car, flew by at nearly 430,000 mph and plunged within 3.86 million miles of the solar surface, according to NASA.
According to NASA’s heliophysics division program scientist Kelly Korreck, it’s like traveling 96% of the way to the sun’s surface.
Mission controllers will have to wait roughly three days to get a signal indicating that the spacecraft survived its rendezvous with the sun because they were unable to contact with the probe during the maneuver.
According to the agency, if all went according to plan, the first pictures from the close encounter would probably be sent back to Earth in January.
According to Korreck, the Parker Solar Probe will probably fly through solar plasma plumes as it approaches the sun and may even plunge into the star’s active regions.
The goal of the mission was to investigate the corona, an extremely hot region at the outermost end of the sun’s atmosphere. Because the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than the star’s surface, scientists are eager to examine the corona up close.
Researchers will be able to better understand how storms that form on the sun’s surface burst into space by observing the corona. For example, streams of the highest-energy solar particles will be visible to the probe as they are launched from the sun and explode at supersonic speeds into space.
According to Korreck, here is where space weather originated. Parker is currently experiencing space weather, something we have only seen from a distance. Now that we have a better understanding of how space weather develops, we will be able to interpret storms on the sun through telescopes and determine what they mean for us on Earth.
The sun can shoot massive solar flares and streams of charged particles, called solar wind, straight at Earth during times of extreme space weather. These eruptions have the potential to supercharge the northern lights, destroy electrical networks, and harm satellites when they interact with the magnetic field of our planet.
According to Korreck, the Parker Solar Probe mission will assist scientists in better predicting space weather and its possible effects, just like meteorologists and atmospheric scientists do for Earthly weather.
Since its 2018 launch, the Parker probe has made more than 20 orbits around the sun. The mission will make three last close swings, the first of which will be the flyover on Christmas Eve. Eugene Parker, a trailblazing astronomer at the University of Chicago who originally proposed the presence of the solar wind, is honored by the spacecraft’s name. At the age of 94, Parker passed away in 2022.
In a maneuver intended to help slingshot the probe near the sun, the spacecraft passed Venus last month. The close approach was scheduled to occur during the sun’s 11-year cycle of activity’s most active moment. The solar maximum refers to this busy period, which is usually marked by a flurry of solar storms and significant magnetic activity.
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