Three years after its launch, the Parker Solar Probe made its first passage through the sun's upper atmosphere. In 2018, we got a behind-the-scenes look at how NASA engineers built the probe to survive the tremendously hot journey. | NPR

And there it GOES! 🚀 Here’s Parker Solar Probe’s path across the Sun in real-time images taken by the Solar Ultraviolet Imager aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES-16, satellite. GOES watches the Sun to keep an eye out for solar eruptions headed our way. But it can also provide key context to help scientists better understand what Parker is measuring. Parker Solar Probe is built, managed and operated by the

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken the closest ever images to the Sun, captured just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface. The new close-up images show features in the solar wind, the constant stream of electrically charged subatomic particles released by the Sun that rage across the solar system at speeds exceeding 1 million miles an hour. These images, and other data, are helping scientists understand the mysteries of the solar wind, which is essential to understanding its effects at Eart