Touching the Sun
The sun is hot.
It is a giant ball of hot plasma fueled by nuclear fusion, and has long held mysteries.
Five years ago, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe. During this short lifetime, it has not only reshaped our understanding of this star. The probe has even ventured into the sun's corona, the outermost layer of its atmosphere, not the "cornea," which is an anatomical term for the eye's transparent outer layer.
The Parker Probe is an engineering marvel, withstanding the sun's intense heat and radiation thanks to a revolutionary heat shield designed by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. It currently holds the record for the closest approach to the sun by a human-made object, reaching a scorching 3.9 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the surface.
Needless to say, the Parker Probe is closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it. And this is a true miracle of engineering, given the intense heat and radiation.
Since venturing into the sun's atmosphere in December 2021, the Parker Probe has beamed back a wealth of data, revolutionizing our understanding of our nearest star. As it traverses this outer atmosphere a second device enables it take sample particles and take measurements otherwise impossible.
Here are some key discoveries:
Solar Funnels: Strange magnetic field reversals have been linked to "funnels" on the solar surface. These funnels may hold the key to a long-standing mystery: why the sun's corona is significantly hotter than its surface.
A Wrinkled Corona: The cornea has been found to be a complex landscape of spikes and valleys. Reshaping our understanding of the sun's atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.
A Supercharged Sun: A far greater abundance and variety of energetic particles than previously known, particles which travel at incredible speeds (needed to escape gravity, right?) and whose impact on our planet on others is still being debated.
The Parker Probe's journey extends beyond the sun. During its maneuvers, it captured the first-ever visible-light images of the Venusian surface and studied the planet's plasma tail.
Why is this good?
On several levels. First, we're constantly learning more about the universe around us, and knowledge is power. Second, the scale of this achievement is remarkable. Just 64 years after the first human ventured into space (on April 12, 1961), we have a spacecraft daring to touch the edge of a star.