The Parker Solar Probe approached the sun for the 17th time and successfully passed through a coronal mass ejection. Its mission will last until 2025 and aims to unveil the mysteries of the Sun and provide important insights into solar phenomena. The Parker Solar Probe is the little engine that keeps moving around the sun. On September 27, it made its 17th close approach, passing just 7.26 million kilometers (4.51 million miles) from the sun's "surface" layer, called the photosphere.
This is just the latest achievement for the probe, which was also the first spacecraft ever to fly past a coronal mass ejection and live to tell the story. This passing coronal mass ejection occurred on September 5, 2022, when it approached the sun for the 13th time.
The spacecraft's latest achievement came during a gravity-powered flyby of Venus in late August. During its most recent approach, the Parker Solar Probe traveled at 635,266 kilometers (394,735 miles) per hour.
Parker Solar Probe plans to continue studying the sun and solar environment through mid-2025. So far, the Parker spacecraft is in pretty good shape, considering what it's been through during its mission. Parker's main instruments are shielded so they can operate in an environment close to normal room temperature.
Solar system scientists sent Parker to help them understand some of the most puzzling aspects of our star's activity. Its main target is the corona. They hope to figure out what heats the corona by tracking the flow of energy that heats the uppermost part of the sun's atmosphere. Additionally, they want to understand how and why the solar wind is accelerated as it leaves the Sun.
Since the Sun is largely plasma, they hope to understand its structure and the magnetic fields that exist and influence the flow of plasma from the Sun through the solar wind. Finally, the mission will also study high-energy particles flowing from the sun and determine their transport mechanisms.
About coronal mass ejections
We here on Earth experience coronal mass ejections when they pass from the sun through the solar system. These powerful events fling huge clouds of plasma into space at speeds ranging from 100 to 3,000 kilometers per second. Many CMEs do not encounter our planet, but when they do, they distort and stretch our planet's magnetic field. The result could be beautiful auroras or disruptions to communications and power grids.
Solar physicists hope to be able to predict these horrific solar storms. They have long wanted to measure the forces driving CMEs. In particular, they wanted to know what accelerated the charged particles in the explosion to high speeds. They hope Parker can provide them with data to understand what's happening on the sun.
On September 5, 2022, Parker cruised on the far side of the sun. It flies about 6 billion kilometers from the sun's surface. That's when it detected the gathering of emitting particles that was forming. The spacecraft then passed through the ejection structure, experienced its leading edge, and exited the material. This was a rather extreme collection of particles, and Parker obtained data on the speed and density of the shock wave. Fortunately, it didn't hit the Earth. However, if it hit the Earth, the event would severely disrupt communications systems and possibly cause widespread power outages.
"This is the closest CME we've ever observed to the sun," said Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. "We've never seen such a large event at such a distance."