NASA Solar Probe Flies Dangerously Close To The Sun In An Amazing Photo Shoot

NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) recently captured some mind-blowing images of the Sun from only 3.8 million miles away from its surface. The photos were taken late last year, and it is the closest any human-made object has ever been to the Sun.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched in August 2018 and has been moving towards the sun ever since, taking stunning images along its journey. On Sunday, December 24, 2024, while only 3.8 million miles away from the Sun, the PSP collected data using the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR), which observes optical light, and samples data from other instrumentation.

The images obtained from WISPR show how electrically charged particles flow out from the sun's atmosphere through our solar system. This flow, called the solar wind, is part of what creates the beautiful auroras we see on Earth, but that's not all ...