When a total solar eclipse occurs, and the Moon completely covers the Sun, a gas halo seems to surround the gigantic star. It is this crown that the Parker Solar Probe's mission is to explore. Nasa's mega heat-resistant robot left Earth on August 12, 2018, officially "touched" the sun in April, plunging into its atmosphere, the subject of so many mysteries. It took all these months to retrieve the data - due to the brightness of the sun, communication with the probe can be cut for long days - and then confirm them, project officials explained at a meeting on Tuesday. 'American Geophysical Union. "Fascinating and exciting," summed up project scientist Nour Raouafi from Johns Hopkins University.
Parker Solar Probe, which was progressing at the breathtaking pace of 100 km per second, completed its eighth approach to the sun in April.
The orbiter robot was then 13 million kilometers from the center of the sun.
It first crossed the jagged, jagged border between the solar atmosphere and the outgoing solar wind at least three times, each time smoothly, according to scientists.
The Parker probe observes an elliptical orbit around the Sun which brings it back regularly towards Venus.
“The first and most spectacular time we stayed below for about five hours…” Justin Kasper of the University of Michigan told reporters.
The crown appeared dustier than expected, according to Nour Raouafi.
"The probe's instruments recorded fluctuations in the magnetic field and plasma energy, information that will help theorists better understand corona warming and the origin of the solar wind," writes the American Physical Society.
Future coronal excursions should help scientists better understand the origin of the solar wind, how it is heated and accelerated in space, and solar explosions, which affect Earth.
Preliminary data suggests Parker also plunged into the crown during his ninth close-up approach in August, but scientists said further analysis was needed, as was last month's approach.
A total of 24 "expeditions" are scheduled.
Following its elliptical orbit, Parker will continue to plunge towards the core of the sun until 2025, up to 6.2 million kilometers from its center.
And, scientists hope, to send information.