Parker Solar Probe Breaks Record, Becomes Closest Spacecraft to Sun - NASA (2024)

FAQs

How close has the Parker Solar Probe gotten to the Sun? ›

NASA's Parker Solar Probe Completes 18th Close Approach to the Sun. NASA's Parker Solar Probe completed its 18th close approach to the Sun on Dec. 28, 2023, matching its own distance record by skimming just about 4.51 million miles (7.26 million kilometers) from the solar surface.

Coming closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe will employ a combination of in situ measurements and imaging to achieve the mission's primary scientific goal: to understand how the Sun's corona is heated and how the solar wind is accelerated.

The previous record, 42.73 million kilometres (26.55 million miles) from the Sun's surface, was set by the Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976. As of its perihelion 27 September 2023, the Parker Solar Probe's closest approach is 7.26 million kilometres (4.51 million miles).

The closest man-made object to the Sun was the Helios II spacecraft in 1976. It approached within 43.5 million km (27 million miles), just a couple of million kilometers closer than the planet Mercury. Here's a diagram with the Sun to scale.

Parker Solar Probe is alive and well after skimming by the Sun at just 15 million miles from our star's surface. This is far closer than any spacecraft has ever gone — the previous record was set by Helios B in 1976 and broken by Parker on Oct.

On Dec. 14, 2021, NASA announced that Parker had flown through the Sun's upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. This marked the first time in history, a spacecraft had touched the Sun.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe flies through major coronal mass ejection — and survives to tell the tale. This 1st CME fly-through might have also validated a 2-decade-old theory about our host star. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or magnetic bursts of plasma from the sun's corona, are fearsome indeed.

For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA's Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun's upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.

The success of the Parker Solar Probe mission could advance space exploration and have implications for lunar missions. NASA's Parker Solar Probe is set to achieve a groundbreaking feat in 2024 by venturing closer to the Sun than any other man-made object.

The fastest speeds that have been achieved by human-made objects have been space probes and they have done it by passing close by massive bodies like the sun and planets using their gravity to accelerate. The Parker Solar Probe holds the current record at around half a million miles per hour relative to the Sun.

What is the fastest man made object in space? ›

Nasa's Parker Solar Probe has once again broken its own record for being the fastest man-made object ever. The history-making craft reached a ferocious 394,736 miles per hour (635,266 km per hour) as it continues its mission hurtling around the Sun.

On its 17th trip around the sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe traveled at nearly 400,000 miles per hour. That makes the probe the fastest human-made object in history.

Parker Solar Probe: First spacecraft to "touch" the sun | Space.

If our Sun would be replaced by a black hole with the same mass, the planets would stay on their orbits. But life on Earth would perish due to the missing energy radiated by the Sun.

First, you would be vaporized before you even got close, and second, the surface of the Sun is mostly plasma and gas. There's nothing to touch. It would be like “touching” fog or clouds, or, you know, flames. There's no solid physical surface to touch.

Story highlights. NASA's Parker Solar Probe set a new speed record, hurtling through the Solar System at 635,266 kilometres (394,736 miles) per hour during its 17th orbit around the Sun.

Even at the peak speed of the Parker Solar Probe (~180 km/sec), it would take more than 7,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system. Interstellar distances are HUGE.

Parker Solar Probe is currently in the constellation of Pisces. The current Right Ascension is 00h 15m 11s and the Declination is +00° 10' 44”.

Parker Solar Probe Distance from Earth

The distance of Parker Solar Probe from Earth is currently 188,224,170 kilometers, equivalent to 1.258201 Astronomical Units. Light takes 10 minutes and 27.8482 seconds to travel from Parker Solar Probe and arrive to us.