Have you ever thought that humanity has learned all that matters about our beloved Sun? Neither do astronomers. That’s why they’re relying on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission to bring back valuable data about our star. The Sun can be considered our best friend, as it supports all life forms on Earth. But in some situations, it can become a living Hell.
According to NASA’s official website, the Parker Solar Probe has zipped through the corona, meaning the upper atmosphere of the Sun. The purpose was to sample particles and magnetic fields, which it did.
A major achievement
The event that NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has just been through is very important for science. Astronomers are confident that the achievement will help them uncover important info regarding the Sun.
Thomas Zurbuchen, who’s the associate administrator at the Science Mission Directorate from NASA’s Headquarters in Washington, declared as quoted by the space agency’s website:
Not only does this milestone provide us with deeper insights into our Sun’s evolution and it’s impacts on our solar system, but everything we learn about our own star also teaches us more about stars in the rest of the universe.
Nour Raouafi, a Parker project scientist, explains to us more about what the new achievement means for science, as quoted by the same source:
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,
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.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was launched in August 2018, and it implied a huge cost of 1.5 billion USD, according to information published by Wikipedia.
