Sun yields its secrets to Parker Solar Probe
Published 2 mins ago
on December 4, 2019
By Agence France-Presse
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, having survived its closest encounter so far with the Sun, has sent back a “spectacular trove” of data on its corona, the super-hot outer edge of its atmosphere, scientists said Wednesday.
The car-sized probe, launched in August last year, will come within some four million miles (six million kilometres) of the sun’s surface during a series of fly-bys at other distances and trajectories over seven years.
It is hoped it will allow a better understanding of the solar wind and electromagnetic storms which can cause chaos on Earth by knocking out the power grid.
One puzzle concerns the corona itself which at one million degrees is many times hotter than the sun’s surface at 6,000C, when it would normally be expected to cool the further from the heat source.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/sun-yields-its-secrets-to-parker-solar-probe/
= new reply since forum marked as read
