NASA craft 'touches' sun for 1st time, dives into atmosphere

 

This image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. On Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, NASA announced that the spacecraft has plunged through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona in April, and will keep drawing ever closer to the sun and diving deeper into the corona. Credit: Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP

A NASA spacecraft has officially "kissed" the sun, falling through the corona, an unknown region of the solar atmosphere.

Scientists made the announcement at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union on Tuesday.

During the Parker Solar Probe's seventh close encounter to the sun in April, the spacecraft sailed through the corona. The data took a few months to arrive, and then several more months to confirm, according to the scientists.

"Fascinatingly intriguing," said Johns Hopkins University project scientist Nour Raouafi.

When Parker first crossed the jagged, uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind, it was 8 million miles (13 million kilometres) from the sun's centre. According to scientists, the spacecraft dipped in and out of the corona at least three times, each time with a smooth transition.

We were below for almost five hours the first and most spectacular time... You might assume that five hours isn't a long time, but it is “Justin Kasper of the University of Michigan told reporters. Parker, on the other hand, was going so quickly that he covered a large distance in that time, racing along at almost 62 miles (100 kilometres) 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, as well as how it is heated and pushed into space, he said. 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 may have dropped into the corona on its eighth close encounter in August, according to preliminary data, but experts say further research is needed. 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 latest findings were also published by the American Physical Society.