Without a doubt, this is one of the most important events in the entire history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Since it is the first time they have managed to get so close to the Sun.
It is known that they achieved such an event by means of a solar probe. Find out how NASA got to the Sun and everything related to this important news for solar science.
How did NASA get to the Sun?
The feat could be achieved by means of the Parker Solar Probe, which has been able to fly over the upper atmosphere of the Sun known as the “corona”. In this way, the probe was able to collect several particle samples, as well as magnetic fields. These data have been sent to the NASA headquarters, yielding new and incredible discoveries. Thus marking a new achievement for the Parker Solar Probe and of course, for solar science whose event has become a great step.
In the same way that landing on the Moon provided important data that helped scientists understand more about the Moon, obtaining matter by “touching” the Sun is an event of great importance, because it will allow scientists to discover more information. Not only of the Sun itself, but also of the star that is closest to the star and how it influences the solar system.
The Parker Solar Probe has managed to “touch” the sun, becoming a milestone in solar science and a truly remarkable feat. This was part of the remarks by Thomas Zurbuchen, who serves as associate administrator in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Zurbuchen also said, that in addition to obtaining more valuable information about the evolution of the Sun and its influence on the solar system. You also get more relevant data about other nearby stars of which not much has yet been discovered.
The Parker probe collects more and more information the more time it spends close to the sun’s surface. Something unprecedented, since until now, none of the spacecraft sent to do the job had been so close.
In 2019, the Parker Solar Probe made a great discovery while collecting data. The zigzag-shaped magnetic structures found in the solar wind, also known as loops, are most abundant in the vicinity of the sun. However, the process and the exact place where they are produced is still a mystery.
Decreasing the distance to the star by half, the solar probe traveled so close as to be able to identify one of the sites where they occur. This is the solar surface, so the first data collection from the “corona” is just the first step. Over the years, the probe will continue to share data about those phenomena that are impossible to study from such a distance.
Getting closer?
It should be noted that the Parker solar probe was launched in 2018 with the aim of discovering the great mysteries of the Sun. The idea was to make it as close as possible to the star, as much as no other ship had done so far. Three years after completing its official launch and several decades after its first conception, the solar probe has finally arrived.
The sun lacks a solid surface like the one that the planet Earth has. However, it does have a superheated atmosphere, made up of solar matter. This is attached to the star by means of magnetic forces and gravity. While the pressure and heat rise carrying matter a considerable distance from the sun. They are heading to a point where magnetic fields and gravity become so fragile that they cannot be contained.
From that point, which is known as the Alfvén critical surface, is when the solar atmosphere ends and the solar wind begins. In this case, the solar matter that has enough energy to cross that limit is transformed into solar wind. This pushes the magnetic field of the star towards the wind and, in turn, advances through the solar system, bound for planet Earth and even a little beyond.
Now, it is essential to take into account that at a far distance from the critical surface of Alfvén, the speed at which the solar wind moves is very fast. So much so, that the waves that are inside the wind can never move so fast as to return to the star. Thus severing any connection they had before being swept away.
How much is left to discover?
Before the Parker probe “touched” the Sun, NASA researchers still had many questions about the exact location of the surface. Based on remotely obtained images of the corona, experts estimated that it was between 10 and 20 solar radii from the solar surface.
Due to its spiral-shaped movement, the Parker probe is slowly approaching the star. In its latest approaches, the solar probe consistently stayed at a distance of less than 20 solar radii. Until he managed to get into a good position to cross the limit. All this hoping that all the estimates and calculations made were correct.
Now, on April 28 of last year 2021, when the probe achieved its eighth flyby of the sun. The spacecraft located the specific magnetic and also particle conditions at about 18.8 solar radii above the sun’s surface. Which indicated to NASA scientists, the spacecraft had managed to cross the critical surface of Alfvén for the first time. After this, the solar probe was able to enter the solar atmosphere, something that had never happened before.
Joseph Smith, who is part of the Parker program at NASA headquarters, is pleased with this achievement. He assures that he is very excited to see how the technologies designed by NASA are yielding important results. Since it is the first time that a solar probe goes as far as to “touch” the sun and provide very valuable data.
In the coming years, NASA scientists hope to learn more about the space mission, which has been in orbit for a few years now. The greater the depth of the solar corona that the probe can reach, the bigger the milestone will be for the entire scientific community.
At the end of the 20th century, NASA achieved several important close-ups around the sun. In fact, in the mid-1990s, the Ulysses mission belonging to NASA and the European Agency managed to fly over the poles of the sun. Sighting several rather strange twists that also had an “S” shape on the magnetic field lines of the solar wind.
These distortions deflected various charged particles in a sort of zigzag-shaped path as they moved away from the sun. Scientists believed for many years that these changes were due to phenomena confined to the polar regions of the Sun.
What is the Parker Solar Probe?
The Parker Solar Probe, also known as Parker Solar Probe in English, is a space probe developed by NASA. This one has a specific objective, to travel around the outer circumference of the solar corona.
Those in charge of designing and building the Parker probe were experts from the Applied Physics Laboratory, located at Johns Hopkins University. The estimated date for its launch was in 2015, however, the deadline was rescheduled and executed three years later. Being August 12, 2018 the exact date on which the spacecraft was placed in orbit.
It should be noted that the name of the ship was chosen in honor of the physicist Eugene Parker, a professor at the University of Chicago. The most surprising thing is that it was the first time that NASA used the name of a still living person to name one of its spacecraft.
It is estimated that the Parker Solar Probe will continue to approach the Sun and at the same time, it will go further into the solar corona. Its solar orbit will culminate in the middle of the year 2025, so there is still some time for NASA experts to obtain more relevant information.
Today, scientists who study the phenomena related to the Sun, feel happy for the achievement. For what they hope, that the Parker solar probe can unravel many of the mysteries that surround this star.
Sources: nasa science, aerospace news, he explains.