NASA confirmed this week that the first craft ever to 'touch the Sun' was theParker Solar Probe, which many science fans were freaked out about.
It's one of the most spectacular things we've seen in a very long time, because there's time-lapse footage of the spacecraft's view as it swoops into the Sun's corona.
The images were taken during the probe's ninth perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun. It looks like something straight out of a sci-fi film.
If you're already awestruck, you can skip back to 0:02 and see the scene from the Milky Way.
What are we looking at? The images were taken by the WISPR instrument.
The probe is going through streaks that are caused by the huge loops of streamers on the Sun. They glow like this because they're filled with electrons.
The helmet streamers are usually only visible from Earth during an eclipse, but in the footage they're seen as the spacecraft flies above and below them inside the corona.
The eclipse was seen from Oregon. M. Druckmuller, Habbal et al. produced the image.
The coronal streamers are visible during an eclipse.
There are more things to do in the time lapse. Earth is visible in the background if you take another look.
Confirmed from the excellent SungrazerComets and hervst.
>
Grant Tremblay is anastrogrant.
While NASA hasn't confirmed which planets are which, Grant Tremblay from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has come up with some answers.
In order of appearance, we first see Mars, Mercury, Venus, the Milky Way, and finally, a little dance between Earth and Jupiter.
This has been annotated by Tremblay.
Grant Tremblay is on social media.
Grant Tremblay is on social media.
Grant Tremblay is on social media.
Grant Tremblay is on social media.
You're not wrong if it sounds like a whole lot to take in over five days. You can watch the speed being recorded on the bottom left of the screen, as the solar probe was moving at speeds of up to a phenomenal 147 kilometers per second or 518,200 kilometers per hour.
If you weren't already excited by the probe, you should be now.
The best thing is that we have four more years of data to collect and analyze, and the little spacecraft still has another 15 perihelions ahead of it.
We may finally understand more about the star when its mission is over.
