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Title: NASA's Parker Solar Probe Enters the Solar Corona, Becomes Closest Human-Made Object to the Sun

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has achieved a historic milestone by entering the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun, and becoming the closest human-made object to the sun. The probe, launched in 2018, has been on a mission to study the sun's corona and understand the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that emanates from the sun and affects the solar system.

According to NASA, the probe entered the solar corona on April 28, 2021, and reached a distance of about 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) from the sun's surface. This is the closest any human-made object has ever come to the sun, beating the previous record set by the Helios 2 spacecraft in 1976.

The Parker Solar Probe is equipped with a suite of instruments designed to study the sun's magnetic field, solar wind, and coronal heating. The probe is also equipped with a heat shield that protects it from the extreme temperatures of the sun's corona, which can reach temperatures of up to 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius).

The data collected by the probe will help scientists understand the mechanisms that drive the solar wind and the solar corona, which is crucial for predicting space weather and understanding the impact of solar activity on the Earth's magnetic field.

"This is a historic moment for solar science and for NASA," said Dr. Nicola Fox, the Parker Solar Probe program scientist. "The data we collect from this mission will help us better understand the sun and its impact on the solar system."

The Parker Solar Probe is expected to continue its mission for several more years, with the goal of collecting data that will help scientists better understand the sun and its impact on the solar system.