Parker solar probe moves into second position near Sun – Astronomy Now

NASA's solar probe Parker is on its second flight of the Sun this week on a trajectory that will take it to about 15 million miles from the visible surface of the star on April 4th. The top speed at perihelion should be about 343,000 km / h (213,000 mph), fast enough to fly 39 times per hour between New York and London.

During the meeting, Parker's four scientific instruments, operating in the shadow of the spacecraft sun visor, will record data on the crown at high temperatures. The purpose of the mission is to help researchers understand what makes the temperature between the visible surface of the Sun and its external atmosphere exceed by more than a million degrees.

Keeping his thermal protection system in the sun, Parker will be out of touch during the meeting, from March 30 to April 10. The recorded data will be returned to Earth several weeks later in the spring. A third close flyby at a similar distance is scheduled for 1 September, followed by the second of seven overflights by Venus gravimetric assistance on 26 December. This will put the probe on the road for a fourth, even closer flyover, on January 29, 2020, at an even higher speed.

Even at a blinding speed to human standards, even the Parker solar probe, evolving at a constant speed, would need more than 13,000 years to cross the chasm between the Sun and Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the solar system. .