five years ago lNASA launched the Parker solar probe to study firsthand the mysteries of our massive star. And recently they have shown us how close it is, because they published a video in which you can see how it goes through a brutal solar eruption.
The unprecedented event, in which a space probe survives the attacks of the Sun, occurred on September 5 of this same year. The eruption, Also known as coronal mass ejection (CME), it occurred on the opposite side of the Sun from which the NASA spacecraft was located.
The Parker probe was at that time about 10 million kilometers from the Sun when it passed through the CME. The eruption caused an increase in radiation and heat to which the probe was exposed.
In the audiovisual material shared by NASA, you can see how the radiation particles that are heading towards the Earth pass and that will surely impact our protective layers.
Was it hot?
The spacecraft’s instruments recorded data about the eruption, including its size, speed and composition. This data will help scientists better understand how solar flares occur and how they affect Earth.
The approximate temperature in the solar flare that the Parker probe went through was about 10 million degrees Celsius. This is approximately 100 times hotter than the surface temperature of the Sun.
There are no problems with Parker. She is designed to withstand extreme conditions, so she was not affected by the solar flare. The probe will continue its mission of studying the Sun, and is expected to go through a solar flare again in the future.