Come, Christmas Eve, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be breaking a lot of the first to swoop within a close 3.8 million miles-6.1 million kilometers of the sun’s surface, closer than any spacecraft has ever come about our star. The historic flyby will bring the probe into uncharted territory as the scientists hope the Sun is active enough to put on a rare show for observations. The sun just passed into the stormy part of its 11-year solar cycle, with frequent solar flares and high solar conditions that could yield priceless data for the Parker Solar Probe.
The probe has been flying near the Sun since it launched in 2018 and is the first to track our star through a transitional period when it shifts from a quiet solar minimum to an active and stormy state. This Christmas Eve, Parker Solar Probe will be flying through the plumes of plasma still attached to the surface of the sun, thus giving an unparalleled opportunity to study the dynamics of solar storms in close-up detail. Scientists believe that if a solar flare happens to cross the path of the spacecraft, it would give insight into how the particles are accelerated almost to the speed of light and help them understand the complex nature of space weather. The Parker Solar Probe is designed to withstand most extreme conditions, including powerful solar flares. The craft already survived the most extreme flare so far in September 2022, after a solar flare erupted on the far side of the sun. This flare, despite its extreme intensities, could not stop the probe from operating and delivering results. Because the spacecraft will be out of contact with mission control over the Christmas flyby, other space observatories will keep an eye on the sun’s activity and any flares that might interfere with the probe.
When Parker Solar Probe returns to contact with mission control on December 27, scientists will start processing the information obtained from the flyby: pictures and measurements of the solar activity. The information to be gathered will provide unprecedented insight into solar flares and coronal mass ejections, and in greater detail, the mechanisms behind our star-something so important, not just for learning about our sun but also serving as background when studying other stars around the universe.
