Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 August 11
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                      Closest Ever Images Near the Sun
     Video Credit: [2]NASA, [3]JHUAPL, [4]Naval Research Lab, [5]Parker
                                 Solar Probe

   Explanation: Everybody sees the Sun. Nobody's been there. Starting in
   2018, though, NASA [6]launched the robotic [7]Parker Solar Probe (PSP)
   to investigate regions near to the [8]Sun for the first time. The
   [9]featured time-lapse video shows the view looking sideways from
   [10]behind PSP's Sun shield in December during the [11]closest approach
   of any human-made spacecraft to the Sun, [12]looping down to only about
   five solar diameters above the [13]Sun's hot surface. The PSP's Wide
   Field Imager for Solar Probe ([14]WISPR) cameras took these images over
   seven hours, but they are digitally compressed here into about 5
   seconds. The [15]solar corona, including colliding [16]coronal mass
   ejections (CMEs), is visible here in [17]unprecedented detail, with
   stars [18]passing far in the background. The Sun is not only Earth's
   dominant [19]energy source, but its variable [20]solar wind also
   compresses Earth's atmosphere, triggers auroras, affects power grids,
   and can even [21]damage orbiting communication satellites.

                      Tomorrow's picture: [22]sky flow
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     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([37]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [38]Specific rights apply.
            [39]NASA Web Privacy, [40]Accessibility, [41]Notices;
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC,
                         [45]NASA Science Activation
                           & [46]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://www.nasa.gov/
   3. https://www.jhuapl.edu/
   4. https://www.nrl.navy.mil/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180815.html
   7. https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/
   8. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/
   9. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14865
  10. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03665-3
  11. https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-parker-solar-probe-snaps-closest-ever-images-to-sun/
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe#Timeline
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111106.html
  14. https://wispr.nrl.navy.mil/
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230516.html
  16. https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/what-coronal-mass-ejection-or-cme/
  17. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQXmwoxMT4Txn3iwvV4PBzOc2O-WIVJ8wE-Q&s
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240219.html
  19. https://www.energy.gov/energy-sources?nrg_redirect=267706
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html
  21. https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/rhessi3/mission/science/the-impact-of-flares/index.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250812.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250810.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  29. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250811
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250812.html
  34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  46. http://www.mtu.edu/