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traveling through the sun's blazing hot

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atmosphere nasa's parker solar probe has

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sent back a complex close-up view of our

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star the spacecraft confirmed that our

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picture of the sun from earth is

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deceptively simple

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parker is the closest spacecraft to the

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sun meaning we now have never before

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seen details about the solar wind and

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solar energetic particles

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energy particles that can endanger both

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astronauts and satellites in space the

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solar wind is the continuous outflow of

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particles and magnetic field from the

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sun

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both speed out filling up space and

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affecting space weather throughout our

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solar system

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for the first time ever we were able to

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go to the source of the solar wind and

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solar particles here are five features

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parker saw

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we've long known that space is full of

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cosmic dust

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we can even see the dust from earth

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because it reflects sunlight parker saw

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evidence that the dust stops at an

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estimated three and a half million miles

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from the sun as the dust gets closer the

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sun vaporizes it creating a dust-free

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zone surrounding the star

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at earth it appears that the magnetic

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field lines flow evenly out from the sun

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but parker saw them behave in a

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surprising way

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the magnetic field lines flip in a

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whip-like motion turning 180 degrees

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around in a matter of seconds

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these switchbacks came in clusters and

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were timed with fast-moving clumps of

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plasma in the solar wind

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[Music]

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scientists have long wondered if the

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solar wind is generated as a continuous

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flow or in spurts we now see evidence

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that the solar wind has rough irregular

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texture

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the plasma within it also seems to lack

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an orderly sense of direction

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some clumps of solar material fire out

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into space while others fall back toward

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the sun

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these clumps may be distorting the

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magnetic field causing the switchbacks

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they may also be an indicator of what

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the solar wind looks like in its early

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stages after its birth on the sun

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parker found a transition point in the

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solar wind

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the corona is the sun's faint outermost

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layer that transitions to the solar wind

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before parker scientists knew that the

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corona rotates with the visible surface

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below it but they didn't know how or

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where the solar wind switched to flowing

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straight by the time it reaches earth

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parker has finally spotted signs of this

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transition and the changeover happened

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although the sun has been very quiet

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over the first two orbits parker

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observed several tiny bursts of solar

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energetic particles

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while these events have been seen before

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never ones this small

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the fast-moving particles from these

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modest bursts spread out as they move

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from the sun

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making them undetectable from earth

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without parker's front row seat we would

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never know that the sun is regularly

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producing these small scale events

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fast moving particles are a source of

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dangerous radiation

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the more we learn about these eruptions

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the better we can protect our technology

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and astronauts

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parker still has more work to do

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but it's already helping us see our star