Parker Solar Probe: first spacecraft inside the Sun's corona
Parker Solar Probe: primera nave en la corona del Sol
- Date
- 28 de abril de 2021 (anunciado en diciembre de 2021) · confidence high
- Place
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, United States
- Credited to
- NASA and APL (Nour Raouafi, project scientist)
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
The probe crossed the Alfvén critical surface and entered the solar corona, where the wind is still tied to the Sun. In 2024 it passed 6.1 million km from the solar surface at about 690,000 km/h.
It is named after Eugene Parker, who predicted the solar wind in 1958 and attended the 2018 launch. The closest-approach record was reached on 24 December 2024.
What it led to
- clues to coronal heating and solar-wind acceleration
- discovery of magnetic 'switchbacks' in the solar wind
- better space-weather forecasting