Skimming the Sun: Probe Illuminates Space Weather Threats

Solar Surprises: Parker Solar Probe’s Record‑Breaking Close‑Call

The July 15, 2025 photo released by NASA shows the Parker Solar Probe’s Wide‑Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) as it plunged into the Sun’s outer atmosphere, revealing the solar wind racing outward in exquisite detail. As the probe’s closest approach to the Sun began on December 24, 2024, the images were unveiled by NASA, promising to deepen scientists’ grasp of space weather and to protect Earth from solar threats.

Historic Milestone Achieved

• The probe’s final orbit brings it to 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s surface, the nearest ever to the star.
• On Christmas Eve 2024, Parker achieved this distance and has repeated it twice on an 88‑day cycle.
• To visualize proximity: if Earth‑Sun distance is one foot, the probe would hover just half an inch away.

Thermal Engineering Meets Reality

The Parker probe’s heat shield was built to withstand 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,370 °C), but the team has found it has experienced only about 2,000°F (1,090 °C) so far. This slight discrepancy challenges theoretical models and showcases the extreme conditions the probe endures.

Ground Temperatures Remain Calm

Behind the shield, just a yard (meter) away, the probe’s instruments stay at room temperature, a testament to the engineering that keeps the spacecraft’s delicate systems functional amid blistering heat.

Examining Solar Phenomena

WISPR captured data as Parker plunged through the corona, stitching the new images into a seconds‑long video. The footage reveals coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—massive bursts of charged particles that drive space weather—in high resolution for the first time.

Multiple CMEs piled atop one another, demonstrating the dynamic eruptions seen in this unprecedented close‑up. This activity triggered the widespread auroras worldwide in May, coinciding with the Sun’s peak of its 11‑year cycle.

Key Takeaways for Scientists

• The close‑approach images provide a “gold mine” of data for scientists studying solar winds and CMEs.
• Understanding these phenomena helps predict space weather events and mitigate potential threats to Earth’s technology and infrastructure.
• The probe’s remarkable resilience and precision illustrate the synergy of engineering and science in exploring our nearest star.

Solar Wind Captured by Parker Solar Probe

The image released by NASA on July 15, 2025, was shot by the WISPR instrument aboard the Parker Solar Probe during its record‑breaking flyby of the Sun.

Racing Out from the Corona

The photo shows solar wind streaming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

Heliospheric Current Sheet

From the left side of the frame, the solar wind traces a structure known as the heliospheric current sheet.

This invisible boundary flips the Sun’s magnetic field from north to south and twists through the solar system like a twirling skirt.

Why It Matters

• Space weather can overload power grids.
• It can disrupt communications.
• It threatens satellites.

With thousands more satellites orbiting in the coming years, tracking them and avoiding collisions will become tougher, especially during solar disturbances that can drift spacecraft slightly from their intended orbits.

Rawafi’s Outlook

Rawafi is excited about the future as the Sun heads toward the minimum of its cycle, expected in five to six years.

Historically, the most extreme space weather events occurred during this declining phase, including the Halloween Solar Storms of 2003 that forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to seek a more shielded area.

“Capturing some of these big, huge eruptions … would be a dream,” he said.

Probe’s Fuel and Future

Despite the probe still having far more fuel than engineers originally expected, it could continue operating for decades.

Its mission would end when the solar panels degrade to the point where they can no longer generate enough power to keep the spacecraft properly oriented.

When it finally ends, the probe will slowly disintegrate, becoming, in Rawafi’s words, “part of the solar wind itself.”