General

Parker Solar Probe Passes by Venus On Its Way to Sun: NASA

Author : NewsGram Desk

NASA's Parker Solar Probe is swinging by Venus on its unprecedented journey to the sun.

Launched in August, the spacecraft gets a gravity assist Wednesday as it passes within 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) of Venus. The flyby is the first of seven that will draw Parker ever closer to the sun.

By the end of October, Parker will shatter the current record for close solar encounters, set by a NASA spacecraft in 1976 from 27 million miles (43 million kilometers) out.

The Parker Solar Probe sits in a clean room at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., after the installation of its heat shield. VOA

Parker will get within 15 million miles (25 million kilometers) of the sun's surface in November.

Also Read: SpaceX Names Yusaku Maezawa As Their Private Passenger

Twenty-four such orbits — dipping into the sun's upper atmosphere, or corona — are planned over the next seven years. The gap will eventually shrink to 3.8 million miles (6 million kilometers). (VOA)

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube and WhatsApp

Download our app on Play Store

Also Read

Sanders Explains How the New Democratic Congress Can Take an ‘Immediate First Step to Medicare for All’

Yes, the COP climate talks are far from perfect. But they still hold the power for change

Eight years on, Sandpapergate returns to haunt Australian Cricket: The entire cheating scandal explained amid Usman Khawaja and David Warner’s explosive revelations

How Ruby Myers, aka Sulochana, an Indian Jewish actress of Baghdadi descent, became ‘sapno ki rani’ during Indian cinema’s silent era

Pakistani TV anchor Rabia Ahsan shot dead at her Rawalpindi residence, husband reportedly confesses to murder