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NASA spacecraft ‘touches’ the Sun for the first time ever

The Parker Solar Probe has passed through a boundary and into the Sun’s atmosphere, gathering data that will help scientists better understand stars.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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Artist’s concept of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun.

The Parker Solar Probe will pass close by the Sun 24 times, looping ever closer to its surface. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

A NASA spacecraft has entered a previously unexplored region of the Solar System — the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. The long-awaited milestone, which was reached in April but announced on 14 December, is a major accomplishment for the Parker Solar Probe, a craft that is flying closer to the Sun than any mission in history.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03751-5

References

  1. Kasper, J. C. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 255101 (2021).

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  3. Bale, S. D. et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.01069 (2021).

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