NASA spacecraft attempts closest-ever approach to the sun<br /><br />NASA's Parker Solar Probe was expected to make history on Tuesday, December 24, by flying into the sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona, on a mission to help scientists learn more about Earth's closest star.<br /><br />Parker was on course to fly 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) from the sun's surface at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT). With the spacecraft out of contact, it will be Friday before mission operators confirm its health following the close flyby.<br /><br />Moving at up to 430,000 mph (692,000 kph), the spacecraft will endure temperatures of up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius), NASA said on its website.<br /><br />When the probe first passed into the solar atmosphere in 2021, it found new details about the boundaries of the sun's atmosphere and collected close-up images of coronal streamers, cusp-like structures seen during solar eclipses.<br /><br />Since the spacecraft launched in 2018, the probe has been gradually circling closer towards the sun, using flybys of Venus to gravitationally pull it into a tighter orbit with the sun.<br /><br />One instrument aboard the spacecraft captured visible light from Venus, giving scientists a new way to see through the planet's thick clouds to the surface below, NASA said.<br /><br />NASA HANDOUT/NASA TV<br /><br />Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe <br /> <br />Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net <br /> <br />Follow us: <br />Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook <br />Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram <br />Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter <br />DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion <br /> <br />Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital <br /> <br />Check out our Podcasts: <br />Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify <br />Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts <br />Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic <br />Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer <br />Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein<br /> <br />#themanilatimes <br />#tmtnews <br />#nasa <br />#parkersolarprobe
