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Jul 18, 20201 min read

PARKER SOLAR PROBE: JOURNEY TO A STAR


Parker solar probe is the first man-made body which will reach closest to the sun . It is named after the physicist Dr. Eugene Newman Parker. As per NASA official website it will reach as close as to 3.8 million miles above the surface of sun. It will fly into the Corona region of sun’s atmosphere. Corona is the outer most layer of sun’s atmosphere.

The image shows sun, solar wind and corona timeline for solar parker probe.
Solar Wind and Corona Timeline. Image courtesy: NASA.

It was launched approximately 2 years ago on 12 August, 2018 from Cape Canaveral Air force station, Florida. When it will reach closest to sun, it's temperature will rise to 1400 degree Celsius. Closer to melting point of wrought Iron (appr. 1450 degree Celsius), 1.5 times greater than melting point of yellow Brass.

parker solar probe,
Parker Solar Probe getting ready to launch. Image courtesy: NASA

"Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star flight program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA. APL is designed, built, and operates the spacecraft." *


The probe is equipped with 4 sensors to study the condition on Sun. These are FIELDS, WISPR, SWEAPS and ISOIS.


Heliophysics pioneer watches Liftoff of Parker Solar Probe Dr. Eugene Parker (seated in the foreground), a pioneer in heliophysics and S. Chandrasekhar distinguished service professor emeritus for the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, watches the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe. This is the first agency mission named for a living person. Standing behind Parker is Nicky Fox, then Parker Solar Probe project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The liftoff took place at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. The spacecraft was built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. The mission performs the closest-ever observations of a star as it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe relies on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Dr. Eugen Newman Parker is watching the launch of NASA's solar parker probe. Image courtesy: NASA

Source: NASA

Living with star program: https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/programs/living-with-a-star

Image: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-images



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