NASA's Parker Solar Probe is solving long-standing mysteries about the sun. Here's what we've learned so far.

[Admin]

The goal of the Parker Solar Probe mission is to investigate the mysteries of the sun's corona, its outer atmosphere. What has it learned so far?

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is solving long-standing mysteries about the sun. Here's what we've learned so far. : Read more

 

[billslugg]

"...in which the probe would steal some of Venus' momentum to change the spacecraft's orbit and bring itself even closer to the sun."

In the case of using a slingshot maneuver to slow a craft down relative to the Sun, the craft will add to Venus' momentum, not steal it.

 

[Thermoman]

The goal of the Parker Solar Probe mission is to investigate the mysteries of the sun's corona, its outer atmosphere. What has it learned so far?

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is solving long-standing mysteries about the sun. Here's what we've learned so far. : Read more

I appreciate you post present information but :

''
Specifically, for decades, we've known that the visible surface of the sun, the photosphere, has a temperature of around a few thousand kelvins, but the corona itself is in the millions of kelvins.

It's like switching on a light bulb, and the bulb is warm to the touch but the air around it is a thousand times hotter. What gives? '''


Temperature felt as heat is not propagated by space , it is cold around the Sun as the Moon and as mountain tops . Light can only propagate in a medium to produce heat . Without a medium the temperature is zero because light disperses at c !

Now the Quantum wierdness here , if you put a thermometer near the Sun , the thermometer would burn up and measure a temperature but not because it is measuring the temperature of the space but because it is measuring the temperature of itself , interacting with the dense radiation nearer the Sun .

 

[Dadou]

Im not sure I understood everything but is there anyway to send something that will help us learn more about more deep into he sun and would it be useful ?

 

[Dale Holley]

Im not sure I understood everything but is there anyway to send something that will help us learn more about more deep into he sun and would it be useful ?

Not to current knowledge, the strongest heat shield would
Burn up? Just like touching a hot fire poker

 

[Helio]

"...in which the probe would steal some of Venus' momentum to change the spacecraft's orbit and bring itself even closer to the sun."

In the case of using a slingshot maneuver to slow a craft down relative to the Sun, the craft will add to Venus' momentum, not steal it.

Yep. When a craft flies in front of an object, it slows the craft, transferring momentum to the object, as you say.

This should go into a "NII" section (Not Initially Intuitive). I find there are many such NII things in astronomy, which adds to my interest in it.

Here's a video.

 

[Helio]

Im not sure I understood everything but is there anyway to send something that will help us learn more about more deep into he sun and would it be useful ?

Parker will likely tweak the amazing level of science already understood about the Sun's interior. All energy measured begins in the core.

 

[Aphelion]

I appreciate you post present information but :

''
Specifically, for decades, we've known that the visible surface of the sun, the photosphere, has a temperature of around a few thousand kelvins, but the corona itself is in the millions of kelvins.

It's like switching on a light bulb, and the bulb is warm to the touch but the air around it is a thousand times hotter. What gives? '''


Temperature felt as heat is not propagated by space , it is cold around the Sun as the Moon and as mountain tops . Light can only propagate in a medium to produce heat . Without a medium the temperature is zero because light disperses at c !

Now the Quantum wierdness here , if you put a thermometer near the Sun , the thermometer would burn up and measure a temperature but not because it is measuring the temperature of the space but because it is measuring the temperature of itself , interacting with the dense radiation nearer the Sun .

You're correct that a thermometer placed near the Sun would burn up, but it's important to note that this is not because space itself has a high temperature. Rather, the thermometer would absorb the intense electromagnetic radiation emitted by the Sun, causing its own temperature to rise until it burns up.
The Parker Solar Probe is designed to withstand these intense conditions and make measurements of the solar environment, but as you noted, it's important to keep in mind that the concept of temperature in space is not as straightforward as we might expect.

 

[George²]

Is there any chance, after the main mission is complete, that we can try to get Parker into a trajectory that, using multiple gravitational assists from the Sun and various planets, achieves the highest exit velocity for man made object from the Solar system, or is there not enough fuel for intermediate corrections on the trajectory?

 

[JThom]

So can we posit that the area between the Sun's surface and corona behaves like a step-up transformer. a cosmic scale EMF induction process converting the (few thousand kelvins of) radiant energy from the photosphere to the (millions of kelvins of) radiant energy/heat observed in the corona which produces the huge level of outward forces of that energy, accelerating particles & other matter away at high velocities.

maybe there's nothing to physically see. but other types of observations can reveal the complex & constantly changing magnetic interactions that produces the "force field-like" corona.

 

[billslugg]

Is there any chance, after the main mission is complete, that we can try to get Parker into a trajectory that, using multiple gravitational assists from the Sun and various planets, achieves the highest exit velocity for man made object from the Solar system, or is there not enough fuel for intermediate corrections on the trajectory?

Parker will have used all its fuel just in getting so far down into the Sun's gravity well, there is now no escape.