by NASA's sun-touching Parker Solar Probe spacecraft will celebrate St. Patrick's Day (March 17) by making another close approach to our star.
While people all over Earth enjoy a cold beer, the spacecraft will brave blisteringly hot temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,400 degrees Celsius) as it makes its 15th close approach to the sun, or perihelion.
According to NASA's Parker Solar Probe website,(opens in new tab) the exact time of the close approach will be 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) when the spacecraft comes to within around 5.3 million miles (8.5 million km) of the sun's surface, the photosphere.
That is closer than the innermost planet to the sun, Mercury, which orbits the planet at over 6 times further away, around 34 million miles (54 million kilometers) from the sun.
This close approach means Parker will come close to the sun's outer atmosphere known as the corona.
Source
While people all over Earth enjoy a cold beer, the spacecraft will brave blisteringly hot temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,400 degrees Celsius) as it makes its 15th close approach to the sun, or perihelion.
According to NASA's Parker Solar Probe website,(opens in new tab) the exact time of the close approach will be 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) when the spacecraft comes to within around 5.3 million miles (8.5 million km) of the sun's surface, the photosphere.
That is closer than the innermost planet to the sun, Mercury, which orbits the planet at over 6 times further away, around 34 million miles (54 million kilometers) from the sun.
This close approach means Parker will come close to the sun's outer atmosphere known as the corona.
Source
