Sun’s corona touched by human spaceprobe for the first time

The first ever spacecraft to touch the Sun's Corona has an interesting story to tell

Sun’s corona touched by human spaceprobe for the first time

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• The story: The NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully entered the Sun’s Corona on April 28, 2021. The "Corona" is the outermost layer of Sun’s atmosphere. Here, strong magnetic fields bind plasma as well prevent turbulent solar winds from escaping. Prior to April 28, spacecraft had been flying just beyond the Alfven point. The "Alfven point" is where solar winds become greater than critical speed and can break free of Sun’s corona and magnetic fields.
• Parker Solar Probe: It is a NASA space probe, launched on August 12, 2018 with the goal of making observations of outer corona of the Sun. It reached within 9.86 solar radii from Sun’s centre. By 2025, it will travel at closest approach. It is the first spacecraft ever to fly into low solar corona.
• The project: This project was announced in 2009, at the cost of US$1.5 billion. The spacecraft was designed and built by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. It is the first spacecraft by NASA, named after a living person. It has been named so to honour nonagenarian physicist Eugene Newman Parker.
• Corona: The Sun’s corona is an aura of plasma surrounding it, which extends for millions of kilometres into outer space. It is easily visible during a total solar eclipse, and can be observed with a coronagraph. As per spectroscopy measurements, there is a strong ionization in corona and the plasma temperature of 1000000 kelvin. It is much hotter as compared to surface of the Sun. NASA's spacecraft reaching there indicates a huge leap in scientific capability to study extreme cosmic structures.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the structure of the Sun. Why is studying it so crucial? (2) What are the various ways NASA is exploring the universe? Explain. (3) What are lagrange points?

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