Parker Solar Probe

Why in news?

• NASA's parker solar probe marked the seventh swing around Sun.

What is it?

• It is a NASA robotic spacecraft en route to probe the outer corona of the Sun.
• Launched on August 12,2018 it will be the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona.
• On 29 October 2018, the spacecraft became the closest ever artificial object to the Sun beating the record set by the Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976.

Goals of the mission are:

• Trace the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind.
• Determine the structure and dynamics of the magnetic fields at the sources of solar wind.

Layers of sun:

• The sun has six layers. From the center out, the layers are as follows:
  • Core: All of the energy that we detect as light and heat originates from nuclear fusion deep inside the Sun’s high temperature ‘core’.
  • Radiative zone
  • Convective zone
  • Photosphere: It is the visible surface of the Sun
  • Chromosphere
  • Corona: Outermost layer

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements about “Parker Probe Mission”.
1.It is humanity’s first exclusive mission to the Sun.
2.It is joint venture between NASA, ISRO and European Space Agency
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims Question