On Christmas Eve (December 24), a NASA spacecraft made history by coming closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever done before.
This record-breaking feat was achieved by Parker Solar Probeit braved the intense heat of the star’s outer atmosphere to fly within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun, Corona.
The flyby is supposed to take place at 6:53 a.m. ET (1153 GMT) and will be Parker’s 22nd close flyby of the sun. Although NASA’s spacecraft is expected to make at least two more flybys sunthis is the closest it has ever been to a star. And, to be clear, we say “should” because NASA had to lose contact with the spacecraft during this flyby; the first evidence of Parker’s survival will arrive on December 27, according to the agency .
Parker is no stranger to breaking records. On September 21, 2023, Parker set a speed of 394,736 mph (635,266 km/h), solidifying his record The fastest object ever built by man.
Scientists say the spacecraft will hit a speed of 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour) as it makes contact with the sun on Christmas Eve, breaking the previous speed record. By comparison, that’s about 300 times faster than the top speed of a Lockheed Martin jet fighter on Earth.
This incredible feat of speed was achieved thanks to help from 7 gravity “boosters” Venus The last flyby occurred in November 2024.
Parker Solar Probe continues its true mission
But breaking the record is just a byproduct of Parker’s main mission: to learn more about the sun. In particular, the spacecraft will need to brave temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (980 degrees Celsius) to collect data about the solar corona.
Scientists hope the data will help solve a long-standing mystery about the sun’s outer atmosphere that has puzzled them for decades. The so-called “Coronal heating problem“Refers to the fact that although the corona is farther from the Sun’s main energy source (its core), it is much hotter than the Sun’s surface (i.e., the photosphere).
Our standard stellar model suggests that the closer a star is to the stellar core, where main-sequence stars like the Sun orbit nuclear fusion Forging hydrogen into helium and releasing energy, the higher the temperature.
All layers of the Sun appear to strictly adhere to this rule—except for the corona, which can reach temperatures exceeding 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius). About 1,000 miles from the sun’s heat source, the photospheric temperature reaches a relatively mild 7,400 degrees Fahrenheit (4,100 degrees Celsius). It’s like finding out your chestnuts can only be roasted a mile away from an open flame this Christmas!
Therefore, there must be a Additional mechanism to heat the coronaand scientists are understandably eager to discover what it is.
Parker will continue its mission with a flyby of the Sun on March 22, 2025, before its final planned flyby on June 19, 2025.
In either approach, the spacecraft will get nearly as close to the sun as it did on Christmas Eve while traveling at a similar speed.