Sun touched by spacecraft in 'exciting' first plunge

An American spacecraft has officially touched the sun, plunging through the solar atmosphere known as the corona.

The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April on the spacecraft's eighth close approach to the sun, but it took months to get the data back and then several more for scientists to confirm the plunge.

"Fascinatingly exciting,'' said project scientist Nour Raouafi of Johns Hopkins University as the news was announced at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Launched in 2018 by NASA, Parker was 13 million kilometers from the center of the sun when it first crossed the jagged boundary between the solar atmosphere and the outgoing solar wind. It dipped in and out of the corona at least three times.

"The first and most dramatic time we were below for about five hours," the University of Michigan's Justin Kasper said. He explained that Parker was moving so fast it covered a vast distance during that time, tearing along at more than 100 kilometers per second.

Because the sun lacks a solid surface the corona is where the action is, and exploring the magnetically intense region can help scientists better understand solar outbursts that can interfere with life on Earth.

Data suggest Parker also dipped into the corona during its ninth close approach in August, but scientists say more analyses are needed. It made a 10th close approach last month.

Parker will go deeper into the corona until its grand finale orbit in 2025.

ASSOCIATED PRESS