After years of intensely working to send a solar probe close to the sun, NASA finally began its first seven-year journey there August 12. The Parker Solar Probe successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and it is planned to reach and explore the outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere, the corona.

After six weeks from the launch the solar probe was expected to use Venus’ gravity to control its speed, so that it can successfully orbit around the sun. After about six weeks, the solar probe came within 1,500 miles of Venus’ surface and used Venus’ gravity to maneuver itself in front of the sun on October 3.

The solar probe’s primary mission is to uncover more details about the sun by gathering data and observing the corona. The data gathered from the solar probe will provide more information about the corona’s structure, solar wind, physics of stars, and improve the predictions of major space weather events.

The solar probe returned its first light data to NASA on September 17. This information will provide more insight on how the sun’s atmosphere runs particles into space, which will help support the heliophysics’ study on the sun.

“We will get huge dumps of data and what we’re hoping to do is to be able to understand the sun’s radiation a little bit better and how we can better predict when we have solar flares and solar wind and why it happens,” said Jenna Adams, an Earth Science teacher at the 9th Grade Center, about how the data received will affect further research. “The outer layer of the sun is actually the hottest part and we don’t really know why. So we are trying to figure out why. So the data is really helping us to answer a lot of unanswered questions that we still have about the sun, and then a bunch of other stars too.”

This journey to the sun took so long because its surface temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which signifies that the solar probe must be able to withstand temperature up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit if its goal is to come within 3.83 million miles of the sun’s surface.

The journey is so significant.

“This is the first time we’ve ever sent a probe to the sun because the sun is incredibly hot, we’re talking millions of degrees Celsius,” Adams said. “So, before, it was too dangerous to send anything which would essentially melt because of the sun’s heat.

“So what we’re doing now, is we are sending a space probe that can withstand the heat and is able to get closer to the sun than any other probe has been before.”

The Parker Solar Probe was named after an astrophysicist named Eugene Parker. In 1958, Parker published research that predicted the presence of solar wind. Two years later, satellite observations confirmed his theory about solar wind. Parker later then received recognition due to his impactful exploration.