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What NASA’s Historic Sun Mission Today Has to Do With 2024’s Northern Lights and Eclipse
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been making history since its launch in 2018, but today marks a significant milestone for the spacecraft. As it approaches the sun for an unprecedented close flyby, scientists are eager to gather more data on the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun that’s only visible during rare total solar eclipses like the one that occurred across North America on April 8, 2024.
The Parker Solar Probe’s mission is crucial in understanding the origins of space weather, which can have devastating effects on our planet. By studying the sun’s corona, NASA scientists aim to uncover the secrets behind the acceleration of the solar wind and the birth of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These CMEs are responsible for causing geomagnetic storms that produce spectacular displays of the aurora borealis, like the ones seen in the northern United States and southern Canada in May and October of 2024.
According to Dr. Nour Raouafi, the project’s scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, the data collected by Parker Solar Probe is revolutionizing our understanding of space weather. “CMEs clean everything in front of them, leaving a near-perfect vacuum behind them,” he explained during a media roundtable at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting on December 10, 2024.
The recent solar eclipse offered a rare opportunity to observe and study the sun’s corona directly, but it’s only by sending a spacecraft like Parker Solar Probe into the heart of our star that scientists can gather meaningful data. This close encounter with the sun will allow NASA’s team to understand how CMEs are structured and born.
To achieve this historic flyby, the spacecraft has used seven gravity assists from Venus to propel itself closer to the sun. In recent months, it’s been preparing for today’s record-breaking approach by completing a final maneuver around the planet on November 6, 2024.
After today’s close encounter with the sun, Parker Solar Probe will continue its mission with two more hyper-close passes in March and June of 2025.
Source: http://www.forbes.com
