Newly released imagery from NASA shows the Sun’s corona in stunning detail after the Parker Solar probe performed its closest-ever flyby.
On its closest-ever flyby to the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar probe captured newly released images of solar winds purging out from the Sun’s outermost atmosphere, the Corona.
Scientists are learning more about the Sun’s impact throughout the solar system, including events that may have an impact on Earth.
“Parker Solar Probe has once again transported us into the dynamic atmosphere of our closest star,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington in a recent release. “We are witnessing where space weather threats to Earth begin, with our eyes, not just with models. This new data will help us vastly improve our space weather predictions to ensure the safety of our astronauts and the protection of our technology here on Earth and throughout the solar system.”
Sun’s solar wind captured in detail
For the first time, the probe recorded in high resolution the collision of numerous coronal mass ejections (or CMEs) which are massive explosions of charged particles that play a major role in space weather.
“In these images, we’re seeing the CMEs basically piling up on top of one another,” said Angelos Vourlidas, the WISPR instrument scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which designed, built, and operates the spacecraft in Laurel, Maryland. “We’re using this to figure out how the CMEs merge together, which can be important for space weather.”
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The Parker Solar Probe discovered that while the solar wind is a steady breeze near Earth, it is anything but at the Sun. The spacecraft experienced switchbacks, or zigzag magnetic fields, when it got within 14.7 million miles of the Sun. Scientists found that these switchbacks, which occurred in clusters, were more frequent than anticipated using data from the Parker Solar Probe.
How close was the probe to the sun?
On December 24, 2024, the Parker Solar Probe began its closest approach to the Sun, traveling only 3.8 million miles from the solar surface. Putting that into perspective, if the Earth and Sun were only 1 foot apart, the Parker probe would be about a 1/2 inch from the Sun’s surface, according to NASA.
In the spacecraft’s closest orbit to the Sun, it used a variety of scientific instruments, including the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (or WISPR) to gather data as it passed through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The solar wind, a continuous flow of electrically charged particles from the Sun that rages throughout the solar system and the corona are both visible in the new WISPR photos. Knowing the origins of the solar wind near the Sun is the first step towards comprehending its effects, according to NASA.
How the Sun’s solar winds impact Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s magnetic field is our invisible protector. The field creates a barrier that shields us from the powerful solar winds. The magnetic field can occasionally become disrupted by stronger solar winds.
According to NASA, in some cases, it can also trigger space weather events that interfere with everything from land-based power networks to ship communications on our oceans to our satellites in orbit. Stunning auroras are also created when the particle stream interacts with gases in the planet’s magnetic field.
Parker Solar Probe is expected to continue gathering more data in its present orbit as it makes future passes through the corona to assist scientists to discover the origins of the sluggish solar wind. The next pass is scheduled for September 15, 2025.
SOURCE NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Johns Hopkins APL, Naval Research Laboratory and USA TODAY research