NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries

NASA ^ | 14 December 2021 | presser

[blueplum]

For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.

The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system. ...

...During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This is proved what some had predicted – that the Alfvén critical surface isn’t shaped like a smooth ball. Rather, it has spikes and valleys that wrinkle the surface. Discovering where these protrusions line up with solar activity coming from the surface can help scientists learn how events on the Sun affect the atmosphere and solar wind.

At one point, as Parker Solar Probe dipped to just beneath 15 solar radii (around 6.5 million miles) from the Sun’s surface, it transited a feature in the corona called a pseudostreamer. Pseudostreamers are massive structures that rise above the Sun’s surface and can be seen from Earth during solar eclipses.

Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm. Inside the pseudostreamer....

[blueplum]

The sun isn't just a ball of fire

A few days ago the Sun (magazine) ran an article about a young man who was able to get an amazingly clear photo of the Sun by layering 150,000 pictures. You can find that article HERE

[TheCipher]

Hope they did it at night when it was cooler :-)

[twister881]

Good stuff. Glad to see NASA has other priorities these days beyond its prime mission of Muslim outreach.

[SunkenCiv]

Parker Solar Probe keyword, newly enhanced, sorted:

• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Just Became The Fastest Human-Made Object Of All Time [05/04/2021]
• Astronomy Picture of the Day - A Venus Flyby [02/25/2021]
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe spotted 'stealth' outburst on the sun [02/04/2020]
• The Mystery at the Center of the Solar System [12/05/2019]
• NASA Warns Of Massive 236-Foot Asteroid Currently Approaching Earth [12/05/2019]
• Sun's close-up reveals atmosphere hopping with highly energetic particles [12/05/2019]
• Solving the sun's super-heating mystery with Parker Solar Probe [06/06/2019]
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Makes 2nd Daring Flyby of the Sun [04/05/2019]
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Just Started Its First Skim Past the Sun [11/02/2018]
• Parker Solar Probe Becomes Fastest-Ever Spacecraft [10/30/2018]
• LIVE: NASA Launch of Parker Solar Probe (3:30AM ET) [08/12/2018]
• Watch the launch of NASA's Parker Solar Probe tomorrow at 3:33 AM ET [08/10/2018]
• "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before" [04/19/2018]
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Will Touch the Sun — So Can You [03/25/2018]

[SunkenCiv]

During a brief swing by Venus, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe detected a natural radio signal that revealed the spacecraft had flown through the planet’s upper atmosphere. This was the first direct measurement of the Venusian atmosphere in nearly 30 years — and it looks quite different from Venus' past. A study published today in Geophysical Research Letters confirms that Venus’ upper atmosphere undergoes puzzling changes over a solar cycle, the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle. This marks the latest clue to untangling how and why Venus and Earth are so different.

The data sonification in the video translates data from Parker Solar Probe’s FIELDS instrument into sound. FIELDS detected a natural, low-frequency radio emission as it moved through Venus’ atmosphere that helped scientists calculate the thickness of the planet’s electrically charged upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere. Understanding how Venus’ ionosphere changes will help researchers determine how Venus, once so similar to Earth, became the world of scorching, toxic air it is today.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Discovers Natural Radio Emission in Venus' Atmosphere | May 3, 2021 | NASA Goddard

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Tell Geraldo Rivera NASA found Al Capone’s real vault!!!😸

[SunkenCiv]

There's also an excellent Scott Manley YT vid from 2019, illustrates the various planetary flybys that helped alter the trajectory of the PSP.

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission has returned unprecedented data from near the Sun, culminating in new discoveries published on Dec. 4, 2019, in the journal Nature. Among the findings are new understandings of how the Sun's constant outflow of material, the solar wind, behaves. Seen near Earth -- where it can interact with our planet's natural magnetic field and cause space weather effects that interfere with technology -- the solar wind appears to be a relatively uniform flow of plasma. But Parker Solar Probe's observations reveal a complicated, active system not seen from Earth.

Music Credit: Smooth as Glass by The Freeharmonic Orchestra

5 New Discoveries from NASA's Parker Solar Probe | December 4, 2019 | NASA Goddard

[Repeal The 17th]

Your links:
https://www.usatoday.com/st
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https://nerdist.com/tags/sp
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https://nerdist.com/tags/sp
Nothing there

[Rebelbase]

Man will go into the sun's atmosphere in the 23rd century.

[blueplum]

you might get this post yanked too, USA today is a no-no for exerpts:

from the copyright list:
Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

05/06/04 -

“Received another letter from Gannett Publications, publisher of USAToday, and several other newspapers. Due to contractual arrangements they have with third-party content providers, they have denied our request to allow posting of excerpts. They will only allow the posting of titles and links.”

[Kevmo]

Oh well. This one works: http://disq.us/p/2le65ni

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Gannett should be thankful anyone reads USA Today.

[HeadOn]

I imagine this was launched before the “outreach” program began. Might as well read the data since we’re getting it.

[4Liberty]

SPF 2,000,000,000,000

[HeadOn]

I stand corrected... Launch was only in 2018.

[SPDSHDW]

Didn’t the Norks put out a few years ago they landed Norks on the Sun? Pretty sure they mentioned it was safe because they landed at night.

As much as this should be a joke, If I recall right, they did push this in their country

[Adder]

“The most exciting discovery is that we confirmed our suspicions and theories: the sun IS hot!”

[nesnah]

“The most exciting discovery is that we confirmed our suspicions and theories: the sun IS hot!”

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You would think they’d have enough sense to go at night.

[sit-rep]

Who took the picture??