BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Brad Klein reviews upcoming astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s "Backyard Astronomy Guy," Marty McGuire.
This week, a look at a NASA robotic mission exploring the inner reaches of our solar system. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will "touch the sun" on Christmas Eve McGuire says.
It will make its closest approach to the star at the center of our solar system on Dec. 24, a record-setting achievement for the robotic spacecraft that launched in summer 2018.
It will pass less than 4 million miles from the sun's surface — "closer than any other object that humans have ever created," according to McGuire.
The craft's mission is to understand the origin and evolution of what is known as the "solar wind." Besides being of scientific interest, the energy given off by the sun can affect many electronic systems here on Earth.
A greater understanding of the sun could "protect Earth from potentially catastrophic power outages, radio blackouts, and even damage to satellites," according to McGuire.
The robotic craft is named for the late physicist Eugene Parker, who first predicted the existence of the solar wind while a professor at the University of Chicago in the mid-1950s.
