A well-hardened NASA spacecraft flies through and survives a massive explosion from the sun.
Scientists recently released rare footage of this solar phenomenon called a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is an eruption of a clump of extremely hot gas (plasma). “It’s like scooping up part of the sun and releasing it into space,” Mark Miesch, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told Mashable earlier this year.
This CME occurred in September 2022 and was “one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded.” NASA explained.Fortunately, the space agency’s Parker Solar Probe is a rugged heat shield, designed to withstand such intense radiation bursts. This pioneering spacecraft is studying the behavior of the Sun in detail.
A solar flare is being shot into space. How do I know if there is a problem?
The video posted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, a scientific collaborator on the solar probe, includes:
The actual sun is not visible in the shot, but the star’s position is shown on the left side of the screen.
At 14 seconds into the game, you will see the CME firing from left to right. after that, bam.
The spacecraft then passes through the eruption and escapes by the end of the video.
This was no easy feat. “Parker spent approximately two days observing the CME, becoming the first spacecraft to fly through a powerful solar explosion near the Sun,” the Johns Hopkins University lab said in a statement.
Scientists are using observations from the Parker Solar Probe and other spacecraft and telescopes to detect potentially destructive CMEs and other types of cosmic events, such as solar flares (bursts of energy from the sun’s surface). We have a better understanding of weather behavior. For example, CME “could endanger satellites, disrupt communications and navigation technologies, and even disrupt Earth’s power grids,” NASA says. Infamously, in 1989 his powerful CME destroyed millions of electricity in Quebec, Canada. CME collided with the Earth’s magnetic field on March 12 of that year; NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald wrote“Shortly after 2:44 a.m. on March 13th, an electrical current discovered a vulnerability in Quebec’s power grid. Within two minutes, Quebec’s entire power grid was knocked out. “Millions of people lost power during the storm.” People suddenly found themselves in dark office buildings, underground pedestrian tunnels, and stopped elevators. ”
A CME emitted from the Sun’s surface on February 27, 2000.
Credit: SOHO ESA / NASA
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In the coming years, observations from the Parker Solar Probe will help researchers more accurately predict where powerful emissions from the sun may hit Earth, allowing countries and regions to better prepare. (e.g. temporarily shut down the power grid).
For now, the mission continues. In 2024, the shielded spacecraft will collide. A whopping 430,000 miles per hour! Because it comes within 3.9 million miles of the Sun.