Parker Solar Probe Completes Its 14th Close Encounter with the Sun

In Dec. 6, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe began the 14th of 24 planned close approaches to the Sun. The closest approach – called perihelion – occurred on Dec. 11 at 8:16 a.m. EST, during which the spacecraft traveled at 364,639 miles per hour – fast enough to fly from New York to Tokyo in just over a minute. During the encounter, which ends Dec. 16, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A (STEREO-A), and radar telescopes on Earth will view the Sun from the same angle as Parker at the beginning of the encounter. They will slowly progress to an approximately 90-degree angle from Parker on the inbound side of the encounter. ESA’s BepiColombo mission will start out viewing the Sun from the same angle as Parker and progress to observing the Sun from an approximately 90-degree angle from Parker on the outbound side of the encounter. This orientation could provide an opportunity to observe a solar event from all sides. Learn more: https://jhuapl