The Sun's outer atmosphere has never been flown through by a vehicle. The out portion of the Sun's corona was passed through by the Parker Solar Probe in April of 2021.
There is a video of what the spacecraft saw.
The movie shows the data from the WISPR instrument during a second pass in August of 2021. astronomer Karl Battams confirmed that Mercury, Venus, and the "milk way" are also visible in the video, as well as the solar particles and dust streaming past the spacecraft.
Mercury, Venus, Milky Way, Saturn, Earth and Jupiter are the ones we have in order.
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Karl Battams is on the SungrazerComets.
The first data of breaching the corona came from the eighth flyby of the Sun on April 28, 2021. While it was above the sun's surface, the craft flew through the part of the corona that is visible during a solar eclipse.
Nour Raouafi, a scientist with the Parker Solar Probe project, said in a press release that they see evidence of the corona from magnetic field data, solar wind data, and white-light images.
The Sun's corona is made of superheated gases that are bound to the Sun by gravity and magnetic forces. The material gets pushed away from the Sun by rising heat and pressure and the magnetic fields are weak enough to hold it.
Until now, researchers were unsure where the critical surface was. The researchers knew from the data sent back that the craft had penetrated the magnetic and particle conditions to enter the solar atmosphere.
The deputy chief technology officer at BWX Technologies Inc. said that they were fully expecting that the corona would be observable sooner or later. It is very exciting that we have reached it.
Researchers are still working on understanding the data, and have found some clues about the solar wind's magnetic field lines, which appear to put charged particles on a zig-zag path as they escape the Sun. The corona is heated to millions of degrees hotter than the Sun itself, and they are hoping to find out how that happens.
While saying that the solar probe touched the Sun might be hyperbole, the craft has since come closer to the Sun as it spirals in ever-tightening circles. On November 21st, as part of its 10th circuit of the Sun, it passed just 5.3 million miles from the solar surface. Data from that pass will be sent to Earth on December 23rd.
In the next four years, the solar system will reach as close as 8.86 solar radii. The next close flyby is in January of 2022.
The end of the solar atmosphere and the beginning of the solar wind can be seen in the artist's impression of theParker Solar Probe. The first solar probe to touch the sun is coming into this zone in 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 Ben Smith is from the APL at NASA.
