Happy Holidays, Space Placers!
An illustration of the Parker Solar Probe near the sun.
(Image credit: Applied Physics Lab and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
Today at 6:53 a.am. EST the Parker Solar Probe should have made history by flying at 430,000 mph(!) just 3.8 MILLION miles from the surface of our star, the Sun. Earth is about 93 million miles from the Sun.
To be clear, we won't know until December 27th if the flyby was successful because NASA is out of radio contact because of the required flight path for the flyby.
We will learn much about the Corona, the outer million+ degree temperature envelope of the Sun due to this flyby and the two additional flybys in the coming months.
Sit tight, stay tuned and let's hope Parker phones home on the 27th.
Hope Santa is good to you!
Sky Guy in VA
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