NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Achieves Historic Christmas Eve Sun Flyby
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe etched its name in history on Christmas Eve 2024, by achieving the closest approach to the sun ever accomplished by a human-made object. The spacecraft flew within 3.8 million miles of the sun’s surface at 6:53 AM EST, traveling at a record-breaking speed of 430,000 mph.
During this historic flyby, the probe endured temperatures exceeding 1,800°F (980°C). It was protected by a specialized 4.5-inch carbon composite heat shield. The spacecraft ventured into the sun’s corona (outer atmosphere) to collect unprecedented data about:
- Solar wind origins
- The sun’s magnetic field structure
This mission coincides with the solar maximum, the peak of the sun’s 11-year activity cycle. This gives scientists hope that Parker might capture data from solar flares. The probe successfully transmitted a beacon signal on December 27, confirming its survival from the extreme encounter.
Scientific data will be transmitted back to Earth in early 2025. This could potentially provide new insights into one of our solar system’s greatest mysteries.
Source: https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/