On Dec. 14, NASA gave a press conference at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans, announcing that for the first time in history, a spacecraft has “touched” the sun, passing into the upper atmosphere of the sun–the corona–and gathered data on particles and magnetic fields.
The corona is the portion of the sun that is visible during a total eclipse, and is hotter, but about 10 million times less dense than the surface of the sun. Science is still exploring the reasons why this is so. Unlike planets, the sun has no hard surface.
“Parker Solar Probe ‘touching the Sun’ is a monumental moment for solar science and a truly remarkable feat,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Not only does this milestone provide us with deeper insights into our Sun’s evolution and its impacts on our solar system, but everything we learn about our own star also teaches us more about stars in the rest of the universe.”
