NASA announced in December 2021 that Parker Solar Probe had become the first spacecraft to 'touch the Sun' while taking footage of the star's upper atmosphere.
The footage consists of a series of images that have been composed together by scientists into a video. The amazing result shows highly energised particles forming a stream as the probe enters deeper into the star's atmosphere.
The ribbon-like structure visible in the Sun's atmosphere is often referred to as 'pseudostreamer'.
NASA released a statement saying:
"Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm. Inside the pseudostreamer the conditions quieted, particles slowed and the number of switchbacks dropped — a dramatic change from the busy barrage of particles the spacecraft usually encounters in the solar wind."
The zig-zag-looking magnetic structures are what scientists call 'switchbacks' whose origin and evolution are subjects of investigation; they should not simply be equated with stellar explosions. But in its journey, the probe detected the presence of these in solar winds as well.
Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Nour Raouafi, said:
"We see evidence of being in the corona from magnetic field data, solar wind data, and visually in white-light images."
When the images were captured, the probe was travelling at a speed of over 142 km per second through the Sun's atmosphere. The footage obtained offers an invaluable source of evidence to further the scientists' understanding of our home star.
[Based on reporting by: Futurism]
The boundary crossed in 2021
Parker first passed below the Alfvén critical surface in April 2021, a result announced later that year. This boundary helps distinguish the region where the Sun’s magnetic field controls the plasma from the outward-flowing solar wind beyond it.
It is not a smooth, solid shell. Its location changes, and the spacecraft’s path can carry it through different magnetic conditions. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory account explains the measurements behind the milestone.
Closer views followed
On December 24, 2024, Parker passed about 3.8 million miles, or 6.1 million kilometers, above the solar surface. NASA’s July 2025 release of close-range images describes observations made around that encounter with the spacecraft’s Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe, WISPR.
These are observations of the corona and the material moving through it, not photographs taken from the Sun’s visible surface. The distinction helps make both the engineering and the science understandable.
What the spacecraft is trying to learn
The Sun continuously sends plasma into space as the solar wind. Researchers want to understand how that flow is accelerated, how the corona is heated and how magnetic structures evolve.
Remote images show the larger pattern. In-situ measurements add information about the local particles and fields along the spacecraft’s route. Combining the two is more powerful than treating a dramatic image as a complete explanation.
Reading the pictures
Coronal images can show bright streaks and changing structures. Brightness depends on the observing instrument and on material along the line of sight; it should not automatically be read as a direct temperature map.
Likewise, an animation may combine frames taken at different times and processed to reveal faint features. Its caption is part of the image: look for the instrument, date and explanation of processing before interpreting the motion.
The mission connects with effects much closer to home, including the interaction of solar activity with Earth’s space environment. Our article on auroras photographed from orbit explores one visible expression of that relationship. For a contrasting mission built around one deliberate encounter, read about DART’s asteroid impact.
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