Parker Solar Probe

Why in news?

• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has discovered that “coronal holes” in the sun’s atmosphere are the source of the fast solar wind, released during the rapid realignment of magnetic fields.

Findings:

• The probe revealed that coronal holes — darker, cooler regions that open in the sun’s outer atmosphere — are shaped like “showerheads” made up of mostly evenly spaced funnels of material.
• Magnetic reconnection within funnel structures in coronal holes is responsible for generating the fast solar wind.
• Significance of finding:
  • By tracking the solar wind back to its origin, scientists can now better predict solar storms that can impact Earth’s communication and power infrastructure.

About Parker Solar Probe:

• The Parker Solar Probe is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 with the mission of making observations of the outer corona of the Sun.
• Parker will keep drawing ever closer to the sun and diving deeper into the corona until its grand finale orbit in 2025.

About Sun’s Corona:

• The Sun’s corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere.
• The corona is usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun’s surface.
• That makes it difficult to see without using special instruments. However, the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse.
• The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.
• Even though the corona is the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, it is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements:

1. The corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere.

2. Corona is hotter than the Sun’s surface

3. The Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer