NASA's Parker Solar Probe Safely Completes Closest-Ever Approach to Sun on December 24 at 6.1 Million Kilometers

Dec 26, 2024, 02:00 PM

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed the closest-ever approach to the Sun by any human-made object, passing just 6.1 million kilometers from the solar surface on December 24. The spacecraft, launched in 2018, flew into the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, enduring temperatures up to 982 degrees Celsius while moving at speeds of up to 692,000 kilometers per hour. NASA confirmed the probe's safety and normal operation after receiving a beacon tone signal just before midnight on December 26 from the operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. Detailed telemetry data from the spacecraft is expected to be received on January 1, 2025. The mission aims to enhance scientific understanding of the Sun, including the heating of the corona to millions of degrees, the origin of solar wind, and the acceleration of energetic particles.