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PARKER SOLAR PROBE

Exploring the innermost solar atmosphere

Nature Astronomy volume 4, pages 19–20 (2020)Cite this article

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The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft completed the first two of its 24 scheduled orbits around the Sun on 18 June 2019, making history by flying halfway between Mercury and the Sun.

The mission1 that enabled the observations described in four papers2,3,4,5 in Nature represents a major milestone in the history of Solar System exploration. Sixty years after a probe to study the Sun up close was conceived, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is now exploring the innermost region of the heliosphere, where the solar coronal plasma accelerates to the solar wind velocities. Launched on 12 August 2018, PSP is venturing closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft, mapping the last major unvisited region of the Solar System. PSP crossed a technological barrier by protecting sensitive spacecraft and payload components from intense solar radiation, and the data returned so far are a treasure trove that holds potential for breakthrough discoveries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Eugene N. Parker

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  1. Eugene N. Parker
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Correspondence to Eugene N. Parker.

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Parker, E.N. Exploring the innermost solar atmosphere. Nat Astron 4, 19–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0985-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0985-7

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