NASA’s Solar Probe Did the Impossible, Here’s How

The Parker Solar Probe just made a historic flyby of the Sun. For the first time, the satellite passed through the Alfvén Critical Surface, which is where the Sun's atmosphere ends. This milestone revealed a lot about the Sun, but can also teach us a little bit more about life on Earth.
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Solar wind is made up of streams of charged particles and gas that are propelled by the Sun at millions of kilometers per second throughout the Solar System. These particles can ultimately damage our satellites, like those used for GPS and phone calls. But one the most important questions that Parker needed to answer is where this Alfven Critical surface lies, and in 2021, it made a historic discovery
After spending five hours within the upper atmosphere, the probe observed that both the energy and pressure of the Sun’s magnetic field were stronger than that of the particles within it. This meant that the forces from the Sun were strong enough to maintain control of the particles, essentially keeping them close to the center of the sun.
However, when Parker rose further away, the reverse was apparent and the forces were no longer strong enough to trap the particles and they were propelled into the Solar System. This was evidence that Parker passed through the Alfven Critical surface, like flying into the eye of a Hurricane where it’s most calm, and then returning to a barrage of wind. And even more surprising the critical surface is not a perfect sphere, Parker detected that it’s actually made up of spikes and valleys.
#nasa #space #nasasolarprobe #science #seeker #elements
Read More:
How a rather mundane space storm knocked out 40 SpaceX satellites
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When the second surprise solar storm hit, however, it was oriented in such a way as to cause the motion of Earth’s upper atmosphere to reverse direction, Skov said. The friction and energy of the two opposing forces released heat in quantities more than models had anticipated - similar to the frictional heat released when trying to stop and reverse a moving bicycle tire with your hand.
Switchbacks Science: Explaining Parker Solar Probe’s Magnetic Puzzle
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/...
When NASA’s Parker Solar Probe sent back the first observations from its voyage to the Sun, scientists found signs of a wild ocean of currents and waves quite unlike the near-Earth space much closer to our planet. This ocean was spiked with what became known as switchbacks: rapid flips in the Sun’s magnetic field that reversed direction like a zig-zagging mountain road.
Venus Shows Its Hot, Cloudy Side
www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/sc...
The single camera instrument, known as the Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, or WISPR, is not designed to look directly at the sun, which is far too bright, especially at close distances. Rather, WISPR peers to the side, at charged particles known as the solar wind that emanate from the sun at a million miles per hour.
Thumbnail Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
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[@Seeker]

We got so excited with all the new updates and we said “millions” when in fact solar wind travels at hundreds kilometers per second. Thanks for all your help on spotting this!

[@UpstateAlgaeLaboratory]

Comment section peer review strikes again 😁

[@hwthwt9951]

1:03 "at millions of kilometers per second" the speed of light is 299,792 km/s, so i guess the solar wind travels at warp3 or more

[@mathspodethemighty3484]

I guess the sun hold the key to FTL travel XD

[@curtisdaniel9294]

All the discoveries and photos that the Parker Solar Probe has made are marvelous. But what amazes me the most is the engineering that went into creating this probe that can fly So Close to the 😎!!!

[@bootnad]

It really is incredible. I never thought it would be possible to get this close to a star. Not to mention the ability to send signals back through that chaos

[@methamphetamememcmeth3422]

@@12xenn45 There's also no end to human stupidity.

[@cofa4011]

1:00 "millions of kilometers per seconds" ? gne ?

[@quintoss6924]

I’d like see them try to go faster than 300.000 km/s

[@masondorseth4731]

The true numbers are in the hundreds of kilometers per second

[@babayada2015]

They always get c wrong

[@lorisperfetto6021]

Meh, not really well informed

[@Maviation]

Millions of km/s... nah.. you have to check that. Speed of light is like 300 000km/s

[@mihaimihai7748]

Milions km per sec, come on!

[@Sinazok]

Great delivery; definitely want more content from this host.

[@Veeger]

1:02 solar winds and charged particles travelling at millions of kilometres a second. Funny but I thought light was the fastest at 300,000km/s

[@karimshebeika8010]

ye what a dumb mistake to make...

[@cashkaval]

Came here to point out the same thing

[@toteomma]

he made the exact same mistake in a prior video :D in the "ISS will crash" video to be exact

[@Veeger]

@@toteomma 😆🤣

[@roscosanchez4649]

Well you'd be wrong because light only travels 299792 km/s.

[@victorborges9913]

Millions of kilometers per second? We sure about that? Hahaha amazing video, though!

[@georgeman27]

Speed limit? What speed limit, Its SPACE ;D

[@karimshebeika8010]

@@georgeman27 Im sorry to break it to you, but SPACE does have a speed limit...

[@georgeman27]

@@karimshebeika8010 /r woosh

[@BSGifts]

Wow! It's so beautiful view

[@baraskparas9559]

Great presentation

[@fundemort]

RA: "Hi little human probe!"

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nice video.

[@janalexandert]

Awesome discovery!

[@stefanklass6763]

So now do we redefine what it means to „touch“ the sun with every close encounter of the Parker solar probe? You can’t say twice that something happened for the 1st time!

[@MAKEITGROW72]

Wow ok you had me on zigzag.. now I’m thinking 🤔

[@meruvabalasreenivasulu4139]

Great mission, inspiring

[@teardowndan5364]

I'm not surprised at all that the sun's atmospheric thickness varies with local magnetic field strength, exactly what you'd expect from ions interacting with a strong enough magnetic field around a star that has a bunch of magnetic activity besides the two primary poles.

[@CooBlu20]

Great content as usual!

[@-HighTide]

This is the third time that I've heard this story in as many months saying that we just touched the Sun

[@sumatrican5990]

Great cartoon. I just love science fiction and cartoons

[@babayada2015]

1:02 millions of kilometres per second? This is the second time this channel is making the same mistake.

[@desmond-hawkins]

Second time this host is making this mistake.

[@davorgolik7873]

Yeah, I noticed that immediately! and rewind to check

[@bartoshw36]

Lmao. I caught that too 😅

[@bishopoftroy]

Nope, it`s just a strategy to attract comments therefore improving the yt algorithm.

[@jakelynbrook]

He may have meant meters per second and not kilometers! But what do I know, I’m still an inches, yards, miles kind of guy! 😎💥🛸🚀☄️👽

[@rodneydowd4739]

How is this mission even possible!?

[@soillcls2014]

Dam were still learning about the Sun? Amazing

[@JMyoutube1]

What is the temperature where this probe was?

[@nickbisson8243]

Pretty warm... Smarter Everyday did a couple really cool indepth videos on the Parker Solar Probe that I highly recommend.

[@bishopoftroy]

The mistakes are intentional so there are a lot of people who comment improving the engagement and thus score the channel higher in the youtube searches.

[@Zen_Power]

Escanor didn’t give permission to touch his sun!

[@potato-ld1uj]

Icarus would be sooo jealous.

[@bobweiram6321]

Why doesn't the craft melt?

[@DeusExHomeboy]

..if you do something.. it is by definition possible :C

[@grayaj23]

I guess if I drive to San Francisco, I can say I "touched" Los Angeles.

[@megumin5385]

We are in a universe where Parker is a probe

[@dm3ris]

1:02 millions km/s? Isint that too much? Isn't light speed limit and is 300.000km/s?

[@EntrepreneurAi99]

Toughbuilt Industries TBLT STOCK to the moon soon 🔥

[@therombaro]

Obviously he meant millions of meters per second, or kilometers per hour.

[@silviarosa4791]

Que logró que un cohete suba al espacio

[@xlcoldj]

The speed of light is 299,792 kilometers per second.

[@prashantsingh4392]

Parker is going to make discoveries of all particles from the sun and what it could be 🤔🤔

[@nick9463]

Science fiction is impressive.

[@paaao]

We actually don't know if the sun has a surface. There are scientific papers that make great arguments for it. Some of them being more logical than the non surface theories.

[@user-qm9nk8yn9l]

Наглядно

[@hakanviajando]

So, is the sun flat like earth or not?

[@SikWidiT390]

My favorite parts are at @0:25 & @2:05 they contradict.

[@skelitalmisfit12]

"There is no surface" also "13 million km from the surface" this channel is slipping

[@BCY88]

No, listen carefully. They said 'solid surface' @0:25, surface is defined as the uppermost layer of smth, doesn't have to be solid unless specified. So their use of surface @2:05 is correct as it refers to the uppermost gas layer of the sun.

[@shoot-n-scoot3539]

What particles? What are the particles? How are the particles made? Sun is mostly made of Hydrogen, then Helium. Charged particles are what? Gamma Rays? X-rays? Ions?

[@karimshebeika8010]

I think mostly Protons, Hydrogen Ions, but thats just a guess..

[@oneboxer8329]

NASA

[@majorhelmet2101]

Seeker vs SciShow Space 🥊

[@themiddleman3060]

Scishow

[@jakes.house.]

Seeker x SciShow Space

[@truetech4158]

Affordable housing on the sun with free geothermal and solar power for the air conditioning systems. Warmer than Mars.

1:02 Millions of kilometers per second?!? So... 😶

[@myaquariumfish5188]

Kenny is handsome 😍

[@kolinmartz]

Missed an opportunity to call it Ikarus

[@andyreznick]

Maybe they didn't want to risk cursing it.

[@StitchTheFox]

Seeker is so close to scishow's thumbnail

[@handsomeblackmuscle9845]

I really enjoy Kenny's narrating. *S E ❤️ K E R*

[@briankut7458]

456

[@EmperorZelos]

EXCUSE ME!? MILLIONS OF KM PER SECOND!? Did you mean HOUR!? Because the speed of light is 300 THOUSAND kilometer per second! NO way the wind goes faster than light!

[@drstone7014]

How come the side of omoahmoah facing away from the sun is the part that out gassed

[@skelitalmisfit12]

All comit tails stream away from the sun.

[@venadore]

millions of km a second? damn you oughta rewrite physics

[@prashantsingh4392]

And pde

[@raviraajpoot5508]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJXOf31_icRsn5Y Maa Darash Tera paun layi ll

[@stardefenderiii7480]

3rd

[@KokoJeuru]

2nd

[@stephenksmith7574]

Solar wind can't has a speed at millions of kilometers per second!

[@shankarjadhav7251]

5th

[@berserker1363]

Nasa wale boht khatarnak h

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

Seeker is bringing us the news, six weeks late as usual.

[@nfineon]

A remarkable acheivement, but that's not "touching the sun" in the same way that flying through the outer edge of our atmosphere isn't the same thing as "touching the earth".

[@mischake]

Nobody has ever done the impossible

[@cataclysmicat9551]

I’m tired

[@boredgrass]

Why make a music video that makes it annoying to concentrate on the content? Imagine there were people who interested in the content? I know, it is an audacious claim to make, but I think there are people who are interested in scientific content!

[@prashantsingh4392]

Make a video on maths

[@mbdzel]

This was boring af. Like no crap the sun is our host star. Get excited and make me beleave you enjoy the subject.

[@desmond-hawkins]

(1:00) "propelled by the Sun at *millions of km/s* …". Oh cool, so propelled faster than the speed of light? Light goes at just under 0.3 million km/s, and these particles go even faster? Seriously, this is the second video in a row by *this host* with a bunch of glaring mistakes, the other day it was rockets going 28 million km/h and calling the MIR station M-I-R. What a joke, Seeker please get a host who actually understands what they are talking about. 🤡

[@kellymccance1962]

Funny.

[@andy8nagy]

204th view

[@knechtnoobrecht-c137]

Hey, i want to let you know that your audio quality is really bad. It sounds like you're talking through a pillow.