In an astronomical milestone for NASA, their Parker Solar Probe—which launched in 2018—flew into the Sun’s corona (where the temperature is roughly two million degrees Fahrenheit) becoming the first spacecraft ever to do so. “Touching” the sun in this way will provide tremendous insight for solar science, as the probe was able to gather substantial data. “The goal of this entire mission is to learn how the Sun works. We can accomplish this by flying into the solar atmosphere,” Michael Stevens, an CfA astrophysicist, says in a statement, as reported by Smithsonian Magazine. Read more about the spacecraft, its orbit and mission, and the environs of the sun, there.
Image courtey of NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben