![]() ![]() The probe also encountered highly magnetized, rogue magnetic waves called switchbacks, which increased the speeds of solar wind more than 300,000 miles per hour in just a matter of seconds. “Yes, there’s a radial flow outward, but on top of that, there are huge magnetic structures and waves.” ![]() “We see that the solar wind is very bursty,” said Bale. Instruments also shed light on the structure of the sun’s winds. Previously, scientists had witnessed solar winds escaping from coronal holes near the sun’s poles, but this is the first time they’ve observed the activity at lower latitudes. “It’s at lower altitudes than we expected originally.” “We see that the solar wind is slow, it’s highly magnetized, and it’s emerging from a very small coronal hole at the equator,” said Bale. Parker’s data revealed a surprising source of our sun’s solar winds. “What Parker has done has got us closer than ever to the Sun and now we can really see a lot of structure and we can see in this case we can clearly see a source of the wind.” The mission’s goal is to “understand the sources and structure of the solar wind up close right as it leaves the sun,” said physicist Stuart Bale of the University of California, Berkeley, in the press conference. Finally, ISOIS is composed of complementary instruments that measure the energies of different particles. A team of four instruments, SWEAP counts particles that are flung out into space to better understand their impact on the solar system. The shoebox-sized WISPR is the probe’s only imager, taking snapshots of the sun’s corona and any solar mass ejections it happens to capture. The FIELDS instrument is made up of five antennas and tracks the sun’s electric and magnetic fields. The probe is equipped with a suite of high tech instruments that are specially engineered to withstand the blistering effects of the sun’s rays. “This is the first time we’ve been able to fly a spacecraft into the atmosphere of a star, and that alone, to me, is just so exciting,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a press conference today. ![]() Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play The probe, which launched in August 2018, has since zipped two times closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft in history and has broken the spacecraft speed record, too. These first scientific measurements were reported in a series of four papers published today in the journal Nature. The probe has revealed insight into the formation and structure of solar winds, the connection between coronal mass ejections and energized particles, and the shape of the sun’s twisting magnetic field. In just one short year, the probe’s initial observations have already unraveled decades-long mysteries about our home star. Parker Solar Probe has kissed the sun, and now its telling us everything. Parker Solar Probe has five more years left in its mission to unlock even more secrets about the physics of our nearest and dearest star.The measurements revealed a slew of insight into the sun’s magnetic field, how solar winds flow, and more.The first scientific results of the Parker Solar Probe mission were released today in a series of four papers published in the journal Nature.
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