Since the Parker Solar Probe launched on August 12, 2018, Earth has made a single trip around the Sun, while the spacecraft is well into its third orbit around our star.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
“We’re very happy. We’ve managed to bring down at least twice as much data as we originally suspected we’d get from those first two perihelion passes,” said Dr. Nicky Fox, Director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters.
The Parker Solar Probe carries four suites of scientific instruments to gather data on the particles, solar wind plasma, electric and magnetic fields, solar radio emission, and structures in the Sun’s corona.
This information will help solar scientists unravel the physics driving the extreme temperatures in the corona and the mechanisms that drive particles and plasma out into the Solar System.
“The data we’re seeing from Parker Solar Probe’s instruments is showing us details about solar structures and processes that we have never seen before,” said Parker Solar Probe project scientist Dr. Nour Raouafi, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
“Flying close to the Sun — a very dangerous environment — is the only way to obtain this data, and the spacecraft is performing with flying colors.”
The researchers also created a video showing solar wind structures as they stream out from the Sun.
“This video, which spans November 6-10, 2018, combines views from Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR telescopes during the spacecraft’s first solar encounter,” they explained.
“The Sun is out of frame past the combined images’ left side, so the solar wind flows from left to right past the view of the telescopes.”
“The bright structure near the center of the left edge is what’s known as a streamer — a relatively dense, slow flow of solar wind coming from the Sun — originating from near the Sun’s equator.”
“The video appears to speed up and slow down throughout the movie because of the ways data is stored at different points in Parker Solar Probe’s orbit.”
“The Milky Way’s Galactic center is visible on the right side of the video. The planet visible on the left is Mercury. The thin white streaks in the image are particles of dust passing in front of WISPR’s cameras.”
