Early returns from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s camera on NASA’s latest mission to study the Sun’s corona revealed on Dec. 4 a star more complex than ever imagined.
Early returns from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s camera on NASA’s latest mission to study the Sun’s corona revealed on Dec. 4 a star more complex than ever imagined.
NRL’s Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, or WISPR, the only imaging instrument aboard the NASA Parker Solar Probe mission, is now 84 percent of the way to the Sun.
WISPR produced multiple scientifically relevant photos, capturing the beginning of a dust-free zone around the Sun, detailed plasma eruptions, magnetic flux ropes, and the first image of a magnetic island around the Sun, a small region of space with a circulating magnetic field.
“The images help in the modeling of the behavior and the transport of the solar wind to Earth,” said Russ Howard, an NRL astrophysicist and principal WISPR investigator. “They allow us to develop more accurate models by putting proper physics in the models.”
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Image: This image recorded by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) cameras on April 6, 2019 captured the solar outflow and coronal structures on the left, and the Milky Way and three planets observed across the combined field of view. WISPR is the only imaging instrument aboard the NASA Parker Solar Probe mission. (Credit: U.S. Navy/Released)
