AssetID: 54919712
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Parker Probe Captures Closest Ever Images Of Solar Winds
Caption: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured breathtaking of the solar winds new images from within the Sun’s atmosphere. They were taken during its record-breaking close approach late last year, offering scientists their most detailed look yet at the solar wind and other phenomena that shape space weather. The images, now released by NASA, were taken from just 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface — the closest any spacecraft has ever flown to our star. These unprecedented views are helping scientists better understand how the Sun affects the entire solar system, including Earth. “Parker Solar Probe has once again transported us into the dynamic atmosphere of our closest star,” said Dr Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “We are witnessing where space weather threats to Earth begin, with our eyes — not just with models. This new data will help us vastly improve our ability to forecast space weather, ensuring the safety of our astronauts and the protection of our technology both on Earth and in orbit.” Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe was designed to study the Sun up close. Its December 2024 flyby saw the spacecraft pass through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, gathering data with a suite of instruments, including the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR). The WISPR images provide a striking glimpse of the solar wind — a continuous stream of charged particles that erupts from the Sun and permeates the solar system. Scientists say understanding where and how the solar wind forms is key to predicting space weather events, which can disrupt satellites, power grids, and communications systems on Earth. The images also reveal the heliospheric current sheet — a vast, wavy structure where the Sun’s magnetic field switches direction — and, for the first time in high resolution, the collision of multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs), enormous eruptions of solar material that are a major driver of space weather. “In these images, we’re seeing the CMEs piling up on top of each other,” said Dr Angelos Vourlidas, WISPR instrument scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, which operates the spacecraft. “We’re using this to figure out how CMEs merge, which can be crucial for space weather forecasting.” CMEs that collide can alter course, accelerate particles, and tangle magnetic fields, making their eventual impact harder to predict and potentially more harmful to satellites, astronauts, and Earth-based infrastructure. Zooming in on the origins of the solar wind The solar wind was first theorised by American astrophysicist Eugene Parker in 1958. Though initially controversial, his theories revolutionised solar science. The Parker Solar Probe — named in his honour — is the first mission to venture so close to the Sun to directly observe the wind’s origins. While the solar wind appears as a steady stream by the time it reaches Earth, Parker Solar Probe has revealed a far more chaotic picture near the Sun. As it approached within 14.7 million miles of the surface, the spacecraft encountered magnetic “switchbacks” — sudden reversals in the magnetic field — occurring more frequently than expected. In 2021, when the probe first dipped into the corona around 8 million miles from the surface, it found the region’s boundary to be more uneven and complex than previously believed. Later data pinpointed the source of the fast solar wind, in part, to patches on the Sun’s surface where magnetic funnels form — a finding that helped resolve a decades-long mystery. Cracking the mystery of the slow solar wind Scientists are now turning their focus to the slower, denser solar wind, which travels at about 220 miles per second — roughly half the speed of its fast counterpart. Despite being less energetic, its interaction with fast solar wind can produce powerful space weather effects. Before Parker Solar Probe, observations from afar suggested the existence of two distinct types of slow solar wind, based on the structure of their magnetic fields: Alfvénic, which exhibits rapid magnetic fluctuations, and non-Alfvénic, which does not. Now, Parker’s close-range data have confirmed the existence of both types and offered insights into their likely origins. The non-Alfvénic variety appears to emanate from helmet streamers — large magnetic loops rising from the Sun’s surface — while the Alfvénic type may stem from coronal holes, cooler regions where magnetic field lines stretch out into space. Understanding these sources is key to grasping how the slow solar wind forms and evolves — and how it escapes the Sun’s immense gravitational grip. “We still don’t have a final consensus, but we now have a wealth of intriguing new data,” said Dr Adam Szabo, Parker Solar Probe mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “With Parker, we’re closer than ever to solving one of the Sun’s greatest mysteries.” The spacecraft’s next close pass of the Sun is scheduled for 15 September 2025, and it is expected to deliver even more critical data from the heart of our solar system.
Keywords: feature,photo,video,sun,solar winds,space,nasa,science
PersonInImage: