A Nasa spacecraft officially “touches” the Sun’s atmosphere, diving through the corona, the undiscovered solar atmosphere.
Scientists announced at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Tuesday.
During the spacecraft’s seventh close encounter with the sun in April, the Parker solar probe sailed through the corona. The data took a few months to arrive, and then several more months to confirm, according to the scientists.
Nasa spacecraft touches Sun’s atmosphere
Nour Raouafi regarded the news as ‘fascinatingly exciting’. Nour Raouafi is a project scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
The corona is where the action occurs because the sun lacks a solid surface; studying this magnetically intense region up close will help scientists better comprehend solar outbursts that potentially disrupt life on Earth.
Parker was launched in 2018. When it first crossed the rough, uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind, it was 8 million miles (13 million kilometers) from the sun’s center. According to scientists, the spacecraft dipped in and out of the corona at least three times. Each time with a smooth transition.
“The first and most dramatic time we were below for about five hours … Now you might think five hours, that doesn’t sound big”, the University of Michigan’s Justin Kasper told reporters. Parker, on the other hand, was going so quickly that he covered a large distance at that time. Thereby, racing along at almost 62 miles (100 kilometers) per second.
According to Raouafi, the corona appeared dustier than expected. Future coronal excursions will benefit scientists in better understanding the solar wind’s origins. Also, how it is heated and pushed into space, he said.
Parker may have dropped into the corona on its eighth close encounter in August, according to preliminary data. But experts say further research is in need. Last month, it made its tenth close approach.
Until its grand finale orbit in 2025, Parker will continue to get closer to the sun and dive deeper into the corona.
The American Physical Society also published the latest findings of how the NASA spacecraft touches the sun.
