NASA's Parker Solar Probe crosses the Sun's corona boundary, providing 'fascinatingly exciting' data.

 Extract from ABC News

Posted 10 hours ago

Parker was 13 million kilometres from the centre of the Sun when it first crossed the corona boundary.(AP: Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA)

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A NASA spacecraft has officially "touched" the Sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona, scientists have announced during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. 

Key points:

• The Parker probe was launched in 2018 and crossed the corona in April, but the data was only just confirmed
• The corona is an uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind
• One researcher said the probe dipped under the corona for five hours at one point

The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April during the spacecraft's eighth close approach to the Sun.

Scientists said it took a few months to get the data back and then several more months to confirm.

Project scientist Nour Raouafi of Johns Hopkins University described the data as "fascinatingly exciting".

Launched in 2018, Parker was 13 million kilometres from the centre of the Sun when it first crossed the jagged, uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind.

This is the first time a spacecraft has entered the solar corona and touched the atmosphere of the Sun, according to the publication of the findings in the American Physical Society.

The spacecraft dipped in and out of the corona at least three times, each a smooth transition, according to scientists.

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"The first and most dramatic time we were below for about five hours," the University of Michigan's Justin Kasper told reporters.

Dr Kasper noted while five hours may not "sound big", he said Parker was moving so fast it covered a vast distance during that time, tearing along at more than 100 kilometres per second.

The corona appeared dustier than expected, according to Dr Raouafi.

Future coronal excursions will help scientists better understand the origin of the solar wind, he said, and how it is heated and accelerated out into space.

Because the Sun lacks a solid surface, the corona is where the action is, and exploring this magnetically intense region up close can help scientists better understand solar outbursts that can interfere with life on Earth.

Parker will keep drawing ever closer to the sun and diving deeper into the corona until its grand finale orbit in 2025.

AP