NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Completes Closest-Ever Approach to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its closest-ever approach to the Sun on December 24, flying within 3.8 million miles of the solar surface and entering the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. The spacecraft is operating normally and is expected to send detailed telemetry data about its status on January 1.
During its approach, the spacecraft endured temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit and moved at speeds of up to 430,000 miles per hour. The mission is aimed at helping scientists better understand how material in the region gets heated to millions of degrees, tracing the origin of the solar wind, and discovering how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed.
The Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and has been gradually circling closer to the Sun using flybys of Venus to gravitational pull it into a tighter orbit. The team is preparing for even more flybys in the extended mission phase, hoping to capture unique events.
Dr. Joseph Westlake, NASA’s heliophysics director, said the mission is an “amazing achievement” that is rewriting the textbooks on how the Sun works. The data collected by the probe will help scientists gain a better understanding of the Sun’s operations and improve our knowledge of space weather and its impact on Earth.