NASA's Parker Solar Probe Makes History with Closest Encounters of the Sun

 

 

California: NASA has released stunning images of the Sun's atmosphere captured by the Parker Solar Probe, which made a record-breaking close pass by the Sun late last year. The images show stunning details of the Sun's outer atmosphere and solar wind. They will help scientists understand the forces that shape space weather.

Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe was designed to study the Sun's corona. On Christmas Eve last year, on December 24, the Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to the Sun. At that time, the Parker Solar Probe flew just 3.8 million miles from the Sun's surface. This was the closest any spacecraft has ever traveled to the Sun.

The images were taken using a special camera system called the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR). NASA says the images, taken from closer than we've ever seen them, are helping scientists better understand the Sun's influence across the solar system, including events that could affect Earth. The images reveal powerful solar activity, including coronal mass ejections (CMEs), large bursts of solar material, and magnetic fields.

These photos take us into the dynamic atmosphere of our nearest star, said NASA senior scientist Nicky Fox. He added that we can see with our own eyes where space weather begins.

The new Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) images reveal the corona and the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged particles from the Sun that spreads throughout the solar system. Along with bursts of material and magnetic flux from the Sun, it helps create auroras, strip planets of their atmospheres, and induce electrical currents that can trip power grids and affect communications on Earth. NASA says that understanding the impact of the solar wind will help understand its origin from the Sun.