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close-up view of our star.  The spacecraft confirmed

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that our picture of the Sun from Earth is deceptively simple.

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Parker is the closest spacecraft to the Sun, meaning we now have never-before-seen

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details about the solar wind and solar energetic particles.

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Solar energetic particles are high energy particles that can endanger both astronauts

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and satellites in space. The solar wind is the continuous

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outflow of particles and magnetic field from the Sun. 

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Both speed out, filling up space, affecting space weather throughout our solar system.

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For the first time ever we were able to go to the source of the

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solar wind and solar particles,. Here are 5 features Parker saw: 

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We’ve long known that space is full of cosmic dust.

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We can even see the dust from Earth, because it reflects sunlight

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 Parker saw evidence that the dust stops at an estimated 3 

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and a half million miles from the Sun. As the dust gets closer, 

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the Sun vaporizes it, creating a dust-free zone surrounding the star.

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At Earth, it appears that the magnetic field lines flow evenly 

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out from the Sun, but Parker saw them behave in a surprising way.

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The magnetic field lines flip in a whip-like motion,

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 turning 180 degrees around in a matter of seconds. 

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These switchbacks came in clusters, and were timed with fast-moving clumps of plasma in the solar wind. 

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Scientists have long wondered if the solar wind is generated as a continuous flow or in spurts. We now see evidence that the solar wind has rough, 

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irregular texture. The plasma within it also seems to lack an orderly

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sense of direction. Some clumps of solar material fire out into space while others fall back toward the Sun. 

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These clumps may be distorting the magnetic field, causing the switchbacks.

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They may also be an indicator of what the solar wind looks like in its early stages after its birth

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on the Sun.

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Parker found a transition point in the solar wind.

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The corona is the Sun’s faint, outermost layer that transitions to the solar wind. 

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Before Parker, scientists knew that the corona rotates with the visible surface below it.

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ut they didn’t know how — or where -- the solar wind

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witched to flowing straight by the time it reaches Earth.

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Parker has finally spotted signs of this transition —and the changeover

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happens significantly further out than expected.

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Although the Sun has been very quiet over the first two orbits,

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Parker observed several tiny bursts of solar energetic particles.

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While these events have been seen before — never ones this small.

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The fast-moving particles from these modest bursts spread out

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as they move from the Sun, making them undetectable from Earth.

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Without Parker’s front row seat, we would never know

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that the Sun is regularly producing these small-scale events. 

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Fast-moving particles are a source of dangerous radiation. 

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The more we learn about these eruptions, the better we can protect our technology and astronauts. 

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Parker still has more work to do – 

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already helping us see our star in a whole new light.

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music

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