A spacecraft launched by NASA has done what was once thought impossible. On April 28, the Parker Solar Probe successfully entered the corona of the Sun — an extreme environment that’s roughly 2 million degrees Fahrenheit. Launched three years ago, its goal is to make repeated, and ever closer, passes of the Sun.
The historic moment was achieved thanks to a large collaboration of scientists and engineers, including members of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) who built and monitor a key instrument onboard the probe: the Solar Probe Cup. The cup collects particles from the Sun’s atmosphere that helped scientists verify that the spacecraft had indeed crossed into the corona.
“Parker Solar Probe ‘touching the Sun’ is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, in a statement.
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To avoid degradation, the device is constructed of materials that have high melting points, like tungsten, niobium, molybdenum, and sapphire.
Parker specially shielded for heat-searing passes by the sun, the spacecraft has been making daring approaches closer and closer to our starry neighbor, finally reaching inside the corona during an April flyby last year.
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The spacecraft moves at colossal speed, at over 500,000km/h (320,000mph). The strategy is to get in quick and get out quick, making measurements of the solar environment with a suite of instruments deployed from behind a thick heat shield.
Parker had to withstand intense heat and radiation but gathered new insights on how the Sun works.
“Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the Sun is a gigantic stride for humanity to help us uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the Solar System,” said Nicola Fox, the director of Nasa’s heliophysics science division.
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In April, the spacecraft passed as low as 15 solar radii from the visible surface of the sun, called the photosphere, during which it spotted a “pseudostreamer,” one of the huge structures you can see from Earth during total solar eclipses.
Parker encountered the boundary at about 13 million km (8 million miles) above the visible surface, or photosphere, of the Sun.
This is the outer edge of the corona. It is the point where solar material that is normally bound to the Sun by gravity and magnetic forces breaks free to stream out across space.
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The probe’s data suggests it actually passed above and below the boundary three separate times in the course of five hours, according to Stuart Bale from the University of California, Berkley.
“If you look at close-up pictures of the Sun, sometimes you’ll see these bright loops or hairs that seem to break free from the Sun but then reconnect with it,” Stevens explains. “That’s the region we’ve flown into — an area where the plasma, atmosphere and wind are magnetically stuck and interacting with the Sun.”
Parker had to withstand intense heat and radiation but gathered new insights on how the Sun works.
“Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the Sun is a gigantic stride for humanity to help us uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the Solar System,” said Nicola Fox, the director of Nasa’s heliophysics science division.
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In April, the spacecraft passed as low as 15 solar radii from the visible surface of the sun, called the photosphere, during which it spotted a “pseudostreamer,” one of the huge structures you can see from Earth during total solar eclipses.
Parker encountered the boundary at about 13 million km (8 million miles) above the visible surface, or photosphere, of the Sun.
This is the outer edge of the corona. It is the point where solar material that is normally bound to the Sun by gravity and magnetic forces breaks free to stream out across space.
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The probe’s data suggests it actually passed above and below the boundary three separate times in the course of five hours, according to Stuart Bale from the University of California, Berkley.
“If you look at close-up pictures of the Sun, sometimes you’ll see these bright loops or hairs that seem to break free from the Sun but then reconnect with it,” Stevens explains. “That’s the region we’ve flown into — an area where the plasma, atmosphere and wind are magnetically stuck and interacting with the Sun.”
