Nasa craft ‘touches’ Sun for first time and dives into atmosphere

The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April during the spacecraft’s eighth close approach to the Sun.

Launched in 2018, Parker was eight million miles from the centre of the Sun when it first crossed the jagged, uneven boundary between the solar atmosphere and outgoing solar wind. Picture: Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP

A Nasa spacecraft has officially “touched” the Sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.

Scientists announced the news during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.