The Parker Solar Probe has made its 14th close flyby of the sun as part of its ongoing quest to uncover many secrets.
According to “Russia Today,” the NASA spacecraft has reached its closest point to the surface of the sun, also known as the photosphere, at a distance of about 5.3 million miles (8.5 million km), braving intense radiation and intense heat, to collect data about the star’s outer atmosphere, called the “halo” or “corona”.
Scientists have estimated the exact time for the sun’s closest approach, or perihelion, to be around 13:16 GMT, as the spacecraft travels at an incredible speed of about “586.829 km/h”. This speed is 200 times faster than a bullet fired from a pistol.
During the next flyby, the spacecraft will advance towards the sun and eventually pass close to it, 3.8 million miles (6,115,500 kilometers) from the surface. That’s seven times closer to the sun than any previous vehicle and about ten times closer to the sun than the planet Mercury, and the Parker Solar Probe will experience temperatures up to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit (1400 degrees Celsius).
To withstand these harsh conditions, the spacecraft is equipped with a carbon composite shield that maintains its scientific payload at room temperature.
One of the Parker Solar Probe’s primary goals is to study the corona, the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, and gather data that can help solve one of the Sun’s oldest mysteries. Why the Sun’s atmosphere is hotter than its surface ? ?
Theories of stellar physics indicate that pressure increases deeper within the star’s plasma, and the star becomes hotter. But Halo challenges that theory. Though fragile and diffuse, the plasma in this layer is much hotter than the plasma on the Sun’s surface, the photosphere below the corona.
