NASA's Parker Solar Probe is about to make its closest approach to the sun. The spacecraft will fly within 3.8 million miles of the solar surface.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Sixty years after NASA set the goal, and three years after its Parker Solar Probe launched, the spacecraft has become the first to "touch the sun." ...

The Parker Solar Probe's first passage through the corona, which lasted a few hours, is one of many that are planned for the mission, according to NASA. The next flyby is expected to occur in January.

—NASA Sun, Space & Scream 🎃 (@NASASun) October 26, 2022 The outer layer of the sun is known as the "corona," and darker areas seen on satellite images are the coronal holes ...

For the first time, a spacecraft has entered the sun's hostile outer atmosphere, called the corona, and captured scintillating imagery of the scene inside. NASA announced the momentous event ...

NASA says it will eventually reach as close as 3.83 miles from the sun’s surface. Parker’s next flyby of the sun is scheduled to happen in January 2022.

The sun goes through cycles, and it's currently in a time of high activity. The last time the sun got this intense was in 2017 when it spit out a series of serious X-class flares.

That spacecraft is NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, a car-sized vehicle designed to withstand temperatures of more then 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Its various instruments are protected by an extra ...

Wearing a nearly 5-inch coat of carbon-composite solar shields, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will explore the sun’s atmosphere in a mission that begins in the summer of 2018.