NASA Probe Touches the Sun

A spacecraft from the U.S. space agency NASA has managed to "touch the sun" in a region that remains mysterious to scientists, known as the "corona." Scientists announced this achievement on Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Commenting on the accomplishment, space scientist Noor Rouhi from Johns Hopkins University said, "The achievement of the Parker probe is truly amazing." Meanwhile, scientist Justin Kasper from the University of Michigan noted, "This was the first time we were less than five hours away from the corona." Kasper added, "Five hours is not a long time in space," as the probe was moving at a very high speed of 100 kilometers per second. According to scientists, the solar "corona" appeared dustier than expected, as reported by the Associated Press. The data collected by Kasper will help scientists better understand the origin of solar winds and how they are heated and pushed into space. Additionally, exploring this magnetically dense region will enable scientists to understand solar eruptions that can affect life on Earth. The Parker probe will continue to get closer to the sun and dive deeper into the corona, reaching its final large orbit in 2025. It is worth noting that Parker was launched in 2018, approximately 8 million miles (13 million kilometers) from the sun's center.