NASA's Parker Solar Probe made history on December 24, flying within 6.1 million km of the sun’s surface, the closest any human-made object has ever been.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made history on December 24 by flying into the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, marking the closest any human-made object has ever come to a star.
The probe flew within 6.1 million km of the sun's surface, a significant achievement in solar research. As the spacecraft reached speeds of up to 692,000 kph, it endured extreme temperatures of nearly 982 degrees Celsius, pushing the limits of its technology.
Dr. Nicholeen Viall, a heliophysicist and Punch Mission scientist, explained, “To get that close, we had to use Venus to have our gravity assist to slow Parker down so that it could get that close. Also, we had to not melt. That's why Parker has this heat shield that holds the instruments at room temperature and keeps the heat of the sun away.”
The Parker Solar Probe, which launched in 2018, has been gradually getting closer to the sun using Venus flybys to adjust its orbit.
On this close flyby, the probe passed through the solar atmosphere for the second time, after its initial entry in 2021, revealing new details about the sun’s corona. “We have never had a human-made object so close to the sun,” Dr. Viall added, highlighting the importance of this mission in studying solar phenomena.
The probe’s mission is especially timely, as it coincides with the solar maximum, a period when the sun is most active, with frequent solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Research astrophysicist Dr. J. Grant Mitchell noted, “We're here at Solar Maximum, which is the time that the sun is the most dynamic... by passing this close to the sun, we're able to observe these explosions close up.”
This proximity allows the probe to capture these powerful solar events in unprecedented detail, offering scientists a unique opportunity to study their origins before they reach Earth.
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