Parker Solar Probe Maps Sun’s Corona in Unprecedented Detail

The Parker Solar Probe offers a closer look at the Sun’s corona, revealing the birthplace of the solar wind and interactions that shape space weather.

Parker Solar Probe Maps the Sun's Corona in Unprecedented Detail

During a December 24, 2024 flyby the probe came within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface. Its Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) captured high resolution images of charged particles streaming outward at speeds exceeding 1 million miles per hour, revealing the turbulent origin of the solar wind. This is the closest any spacecraft has studied the corona and helps pinpoint where space weather begins, enabling better forecasts to protect satellites and astronauts.

The data also show the boundary where the Sun’s magnetic field flips, the heliospheric current sheet, in new detail. The mission recorded multiple coronal mass ejections colliding, a phenomenon that can alter their paths and intensify their effects on space weather. The slow solar wind remains a puzzle. The probe’s observations confirm both Alfvénic and non-Alfvénic slow wind exist, likely coming from coronal holes and helmet streamers respectively, helping explain how slower winds can combine with faster streams to trigger extended storms. A planned close pass in September 2025 will continue refining models of solar wind formation and the Sun’s magnetic structure, moving science closer to predicting solar activity days or weeks in advance. Since its 2018 launch and named after Eugene Parker, the mission has pushed what we know about the Sun farther than before.

These close up results push the field toward data driven understanding. Watching where space weather begins offers a foundation for better forecasts and more resilient technology. The work demonstrates how direct observations can sharpen models that once relied mainly on theory and indirect data.

Yet the study also shows limits. CME collisions create complexity that can challenge forecasts and potentially complicate warnings for satellites and crews. The finding that slow solar wind has two distinct origins suggests multiple pathways for energy to reach the heliosphere, meaning predictions will remain probabilistic rather than perfectly precise for some time.

Highlights

The Sun still holds secrets and our instruments are getting closer to listening.