NASA spacecraft attempts closest-ever approach to the sun
NASA's Parker Solar Probe was expected to make history on Tuesday, December 24, by flying into the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about Earth's closest star.
Parker was on course to fly 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the sun's surface at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT). With the spacecraft out of contact, it will be Friday before mission operators confirm its health following the close flyby.
Moving at up to 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), the spacecraft will endure temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius), NASA said on its website.
When the probe first passed into the solar atmosphere in 2021, it found new details about the boundaries of the sun's atmosphere and collected close-up images of coronal streamers, cusp-like structures seen during solar eclipses.
Since the spacecraft launched in 2018, the probe has been gradually circling closer towards the sun, using flybys of Venus to gravitationally pull it into a tighter orbit with the sun.
One instrument aboard the spacecraft captured visible light from Venus, giving scientists a new way to see through the planet's thick clouds to the surface below, NASA said.
NASA HANDOUT/NASA TV
Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe
Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net
Follow us:
Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook
Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram
Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter
DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion
Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital
Check out our Podcasts:
Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify
Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts
Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic
Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer
Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein
#themanilatimes
#tmtnews
#nasa
#parkersolarprobe
