NASA’s flagship Parker Solar Probe continues to achieve new milestones, continually diving deeper into the Sun, providing insight into the star’s mysterious atmosphere and how it affects space weather.
NASA on Wednesday, September 27 Parker Solar Probe It broke its own record for approaching the sun at a distance of 4.51 million miles (7.26 million km), according to NASA. press release. This 17th approach, or perihelion, occurred at 7:28 PM ET, marking the midpoint of a solar encounter running from September 22 to October 3. Aided by a gravitational push from Venus last August, the probe reached astonishing speeds of 394,736. mph (635,266 km/h), cementing its position as the fastest man-made object relative to the Sun.
Since its launch in August 2018, the Parker Solar Probe has set a record. I exploded last 1976 The record set by the Helios 2 spacecraftThis made Parker the closest man-made object to the Sun in history, and as a result, Which makes Pink Floyd exceptionally proud. In addition, the probe distinguished itself as The first spacecraft to cross the outer atmosphere of the SunCorona, which made the British rock singers even prouder.
The mission of the probe, which is designed with an advanced heat shield, is to study the sun’s corona and collect pivotal data. The overarching goal is to demystify the structure of the Sun, its mysterious corona, and the solar structure Origins of the solar wind. And to too Uncover and explore the unknown. This knowledge is extremely important, because solar processes can affect space weather, posing a threat to satellites, communications networks, and even terrestrial power grids.
In early September, Parker flew during one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever observed. The event validated a theory that had been in the works for two decades – the idea that massive solar flares interact with interplanetary dust – a discovery that has major implications for space weather forecasting.
NASA says that despite the probe’s proximity to the sun, it is still in good health. The spacecraft is scheduled to transmit state data to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland on October 1, and then send back scientific data, especially about the solar wind, helping researchers in their quest to better understand the Sun’s complex dynamics.
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