In a year, on December 24, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will try to “touch” the Sun, writes BBC.
At a speed of 195 km/s, it will rush past the Sun only 6.1 million kilometers from its “surface.” This will be the closest teenager in history to a star.
At perihelion, the point closest to the Sun, the probe will have to endure a temperature of 1400 °C.
“This will be a monumental achievement for all of humanity – equivalent to the 1969 moon landing,” said a scientist from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
At this moment, the device will collect data on some key processes, in particular on the corona – the outer atmosphere of the Sun. It is in this region that charged particle eruptions and magnetic storms occur, which can disrupt power grids on Earth and impair communication.
These discoveries will help to predict the behavior of the Sun and the “space weather” much better.
