A NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) spacecraft made history on Thursday (Dec 16) by surviving the closest-ever approach to the sun.
Parker Solar Probe gave a signal to scientists just before midnight on Thursday (Dec 26) after being out of communication for several days.
The space agency said the probe was “safe” and was operating after passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar space.
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NASA had been awaiting the signal since then as it was expected to be received on December 28.
As per the NASA website, moving at up to 692,000 kph, the spacecraft endured temperature of 980C.
The space agency said, "This close-up study of the Sun allows Parker Solar Probe to take measurements that help scientists better understand how material in this region gets heated to millions of degrees, trace the origin of the solar wind (a continuous flow of material escaping the Sun), and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to near light speed.”
Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at NASA, previously told BBC News that people have studied the Sun for centuries, but “you don't experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go [and] visit it”.
He further added, “And so we can't really experience the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it.”
Parker Solar Probe was launched in 2018 and was aimed to head to the centre of our solar system.
It has swept past the Sun 21 times till now while getting nearer to the star.
Dr Fox told BBC, "We are 93 million miles away from the Sun, so if I put the Sun and the Earth one metre apart, Parker Solar Probe is 4cm from the Sun - so that's close."
But what's the purpose?
Scientists want to get closer to the Sun as they hope that as the spacecraft passes through the outer atmosphere of the Sun (Its corona), it will collect some unknown data that might solve a mystery.
Dr Jenifer Millard, an astronomer at Fifth Star Labs in Wales, explained to BBC, "The corona is really, really hot, and we have no idea why."
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"The surface of the Sun is about 6,000C or so, but the corona, this tenuous outer atmosphere that you can see during solar eclipses, reaches millions of degrees - and that is further away from the Sun. So how is that atmosphere getting hotter," she further added.
(With inputs from agencies)