Posted on 12/15/2021 10:26:26 PM PST by 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....
(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...
When you’re hot, you’re hot!
Thanks, SC!
‘Face
;o]
Man will go into the sun’s atmosphere in the 23rd century.
—
See Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee series and Michael Poole
Woman born genetically altered to age super fast, when she dies of old age 10 years later, her consciousness is transferred to a capsule that is sent to the Sun, there she is free to fly anywhere inside the Sun she chooses.
Its there she meets her constant companions the photino birds which are creatures of Dark Matter, slowly changing the Sun (which like all other stars they use as nesting places) into a stable Red Dwarf star, by first going the nova.
I dunno, but I’m callin’ the cops!
The only reason this worked, they went at night.
If they went at night, they wouldn't be able to see the sun. Duh! That's why they went during the day in December when the sun is cold.
North Korea Lands First Ever Man On The Sun, Confirms Central News Agency
Ah. I get it! (No, I don’t. Are my blonde roots showing?)
LOL!
Good one, SC!
:o])
It’s an oldie. :^) I think a couple people used it up above.
*ahem* (Even moi has used it, probably before you were born...)
;o]
this also, is true :)
He landed on the dark side
Heh...
Parker Solar Probe has made 3 flybys of the Sun within 25million km, and is due to get even closer in the next 2 months. The first major results from the probe have started being published with 4 major papers in this week's issue of Nature. So here's a summary of things we've found, new features in the solar wind, new smaller flare events, observation of the transition from rotating to non-rotating wind. And a first observation of the dust free zone near the sun.The First Results Of Parker Solar Probe's Visits To The Sun | December 6, 2019 | Scott Manley
Orbital mechanics can be oddly unintuitive at times, so I set out to cite a few examples where the most natural thing to do it the opposite of what you want to do.The Most Confusing Things About Spacecraft Orbits | May 11, 2018 | Scott Manley
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