Parker Solar Probe returns to the sun, feeling the heat at 760 degrees Celsius

            The Parker Solar Probe has once again made contact with the Sun, experiencing the heat of solar particles on its shield, which warmed up to 760 degrees Celsius during the most recent visit.

The solar probe conducted its 11th close approach to the brightest star in our solar system in an attempt to learn more about how the Sun works.

The probe flew at a startling 579363 kilometres per hour during the close encounter, commonly known as perihelion.

“Parker Solar Probe made its 11th close pass to the Sun, getting within 5.3 million miles of it. The spacecraft endured temperatures in excess of 1400°F at this distance”, In a tweet, the Nasa team stated.

During its tenth close encounter to the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe got within 8.5 million kilometres of the solar surface. The probe, named after Eugene Parker, who invented the notion of solar wind, will collect data on solar activity and investigate the enigmatic corona. The spacecraft is in a very eccentric orbit around the Sun, first approaching Earth’s aphelion and then closing in on Venus’s orbit.