NASA Solar Probe Captures Never-Before-Seen Images of Sun's Corona
NASA, Washington D.C. | December 5, 2019
It's at the heart of our solar system, but in many ways the sun remains a mystery in plain sight.
NASA, Washington D.C. | December 5, 2019
It's at the heart of our solar system, but in many ways the sun remains a mystery in plain sight.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is a $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) mission to help scientists learn more about the Earth's own star.
And, in its first release of information gleaned from the probe, NASA says the mission's already sent back some surprises.
In updates published in the journal "Nature" on Wednesday, scientists report that they've observed bursts of energetic particles never seen before on such a small scale.
They're also hoping their observations of solar storms could help plan future manned space missions.
"On the Earth, we're protected by the Earth's magnetic field and the atmosphere of the Earth. But once you're out in space, away from the Earth's magnetic field, those (solar storms) can be a danger to not only astronauts, but also spacecraft. Parker Solar Probe is trying to get the basic science that will allow us, in the future, to be able to predict those solar storms the way that a meteorologist predicts weather here on Earth," explains NASA scientist Dr Eric Christian.
