The probe Parker Solar Probe Della NASA made on December 24, 2024 the more close images of always the sun, passing through the solar crown at a distance of only 6.1 million km from the surface of our star. The images and data collected provide valuable information on the sun crown and the sun wind, which influences spatial meteorology even in our corner of the solar system, for example causing geomagnetic storms. It was the more close passage ever made Until now from the probe that since 2021 has been “immersed” periodically in the sun crown, the most external part from the surface of our star.
The video made by the Parker probe inside the Solar Crown
The video below shows the solar crown observed from inside the crown itself. In the video you notice the flow of particles produced by a solar eruptionwhich crosses the screen a 1.6 million km/h coming from the left -wing direction, and a myriad of high energy particles that affect the camera sensor by saturating the pixel signal and producing a sort of snowfall in the image. In its current orbit, which brings the space probe just 6.1 million km from the sun, the Parker solar probe will continue to collect additional data to help scientists confirm the origins of the solar wind and the high temperature of the crown. The next step close to the sun is instead foreseen for the September 15, 2025.
What we learned on the crown and the sun wind thanks to the new images
Thanks to the Parker probe, we are able for the first time in the history of study the solar crown from inside the crown itself. Normally, in fact, the study of the sun crown is carried out from the ground or through probes by eclipseing the sun album so as to reveal the soft external atmosphere that constitutes the crown. Although it is our star, several mysteries still surround the sun, in particular What is the source of energy which allows the crown to reach kinetic temperatures of the order of the million ° Cmuch higher than those of the sunflower which instead stops at about 5600 ° C. Already during the first passage in the sun crown in 2021 at about 13 million kilometers from the surface of the sun, the probe discovered for example that The boundaries of the solar crown are irregular and more complexes than previously thought.
Furthermore, the different close passages of the probe in the sun have allowed us to better investigate the difference between the “fast” solar windtraveling about 700 km/s, and the Solar wind “slow”about 350 km/s. The first, less dense, but faster, is generated by Coronal holes, Regions of the solar crown with “open” magnetic field, from which particles can escape freely, while the second, denser, but slow, emerges from areas of the sun in which open and closed magnetic fields mix. The probe was able to add new details about the origin of these two components. In 2024, in fact, it was discovered that the fast wind it is partly energized from Zig-Zag magnetic fields present in the sun crown, while the recent “dives” in the crown showed how the “slow” solar wind consists of two separate components: one that is generated from large rings of material that connects active regions of the solar surface where some particles can warm up enough to escape from the sun, and the other that originates near coronal holes, or dark and cold regions in the crown.
The mission of the Parker probe
The probe Parker Solar Probeso called in honor of the deceased helium -sided Eugene Parker, was launched in 2018 With the aim of going closer to the sun of any other probe in history, in order to reveal the mysteries related to the solar wind and the origin of the temperature of the sun crown. The probe represents theobject built by the fastest man in historyreaching about about 700,000 km/h To the point of maximum approach to the sun. The skill of the probe to reach distances so close to the sun (for comparison Mercury is 46 million km) is due to the presence of a imposing thermal shield which allows the probe to safeguard the scientific tools from temperatures above 1500 ° C.
