Even more, as the spacecraft made this passage, it actually flew into and out of the corona several times, revealing the corona's edge to be wrinkled with spikes and valleys. It, effectively, 'touched' the Sun for the first time. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centerįrom this, the mission scientists determined that the Probe had, indeed, finally flown through a portion of the corona. Parker Solar Probe data from its April 2021 perihelion revealed that the spacecraft finally plunged through the Sun's corona. The particles of the solar wind that were whizzing past on their way out into the solar system suddenly gave way, and it was instead surrounded by a much stronger solar magnetic field and by solar particles that were moving much more slowly.
SUN CORONA DRAWING PSP
At the same time, it also set a new speed record for space travel, as it whipped around the Sun at 532,000 kilometres per hour.Īs PSP closed in on those records, though, it passed a distance of 13 million km from the surface (or around 18.8 solar radii) and recorded an abrupt change in the conditions around it. Coming to within 10.4 million kilometres of the Sun, the spacecraft set a new distance record. On that orbit, the Probe made its closest flyby (aka 'perihelion') of the mission up until that time. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center This illustration shows the Parker Solar Probe passing through the outer edge of the corona on April 28, 2021. However, as of the Probe's eighth pass around the Sun, on April 28, 2021, we finally have a much better idea of how big the corona really is. Inside the surface, though, particles are still bound to the Sun.īefore the Parker Solar Probe, no spacecraft had ever gotten close enough to see this boundary. Outside of that surface, solar particles move so quickly that they escape the Sun's gravity and become part of the solar wind.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterĪccording to NASA, the best estimates put the edge of the corona - known as the Alfvén critical surface - anywhere from 6.8 million to 13.7 million kilometres out, or roughly 10 to 20 times the Sun's radius. The corona shines during a solar eclipse, as the Moon completely blocks the direct light from the Sun. However, these observations have not provided us with enough to know precisely how far the corona extends away from the Sun's surface (the photosphere). Satellites in space continually watch the Sun and its corona, and we see the corona each time there is a total solar eclipse. One of the biggest mysteries about the Sun, so far, is the actual size of its atmosphere - the solar corona. Also, since it is going where no spacecraft has ever gone before, it will likely discover new secrets to explore.
The objective is to help scientists solve persistent mysteries about solar activity and the Sun's atmosphere.
Its mission is to orbit the Sun, drawing closer and closer to the star while sending back data from the array of sensors installed on board. The Parker Solar Probe has been in space for over three years now. After plunging itself through the edge of the solar corona back in April, NASA's Parker Solar Probe effectively 'touched' the Sun, becoming the first spacecraft to ever come that close to our host star.
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