🌟The Bright Side: Solar-skimming probe reveals new insights into space weather threats

These are the closest images of the sun ever recorded, showing never-before-seen views of solar wind streaming out from the sun’s corona, its fiery outer atmosphere. For the scientists involved, it’s a historical milestone. So, we have been waiting for this moment for since the late 50s when people start thinking about a mission like probe. So, it took us over 60 years to get to this point. Designed, built, and operated by scientists at John’s Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018. Circling closer and closer to the sun and enduring brutal temperatures of up to,400° C, it began its record-breaking closest approach to our star on December 24th, 2024. Its final orbit took it just 6.1 million km from the sun’s surface. To put this in perspective, if Earth and the Sun were 1 ft apart, the probe would be just half an inch away. These latest images reveal coronal mass ejections or CMEs in high definition for the first time. As CMEs drive space weather, which affects us on Earth, this is groundbreaking new territory. The Parker Solar Probe will continue gathering more data in its upcoming phases through the sun’s corona to help scientists discover the origins of the solar wind.

The closest images ever taken of the Sun are proving to be a treasure trove for scientists. The newly released NASA images taken by the Parker Solar Probe during a historic flyby beginning on December 24, 2024 are set to enhance our knowledge of space weather and bolster efforts to protect Earth from solar hazards.
#Nasa #Sun #images

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