NASA ’s Parker Solar Probe continue to break track record – records that were localize by space vehicle in the past few years of exploration of the Sun . In its 17thclose passage around our star , the spacecraft came as close to the Sun as 7.26 million klick ( 4.51 million miles ) from the solar surface . That is about 10 times the radius of the Sun away from it .
As the spacecraft gets close to the Sun , its speeding step-up . It is falling down a gravitative well . At its closest approach , the spacecraft clocked a swiftness of 635,266 klick ( 394,736 miles ) per hour , by far the fastest a human - made target has ever locomote .
The Perihelion , the tight approach an object has to the Sun , is the midpoint of the Solar Encounter . The 17thsolar encounter for Parker Solar Probe took place from September 22 to October 23 , with the perihelion taking piazza onSeptember 27 at 7:28 p.m. EDT .
Parker Solar Probe’s 17th solar encounter was the closest yet.Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
On October 1 , the missionary work transport a stream of telemetry , and data collected in this fundamental interaction is going to be streamed to Earth until October 19 . The data pertains to the solar wind , the stream of charged atom that are released by the Sun . The probe move through the solar corona , the ambiance of the Sun , a region of incredibly high temperatures , to study how the solar wind is produce by the Sun .
The spacecraft used the gravity of Venus to exchange its reach , bringing it ever closer to the Sun . This was the sixth time the Parker Solar Probe managed to use the Venusian sombreness well to dislodge the orbit . It flew past just short of 4,000 kilometers ( 2,500 miles ) from the satellite .
Parker will keep this orbit for its next four perihelions , going around the Sun every 92 daytime . It will see Venus again on November 6 , 2024 , with a flyby just 317 kilometers ( 197 miles ) from its surface .
That passage will put it on an even shorter orbit , pushing it ever closer to the Sun and at an even fast speed . But that wo n’t occur until Christmas Eve 2024 . Parker is a sturdy little space vehicle – not only does it survive the corona , but it hassurvived even get down caughtin the volatile releases of plasma known as coronal mass expulsion .
