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.

                               2019 December 9

         IFRAME: [2]https://www.youtube.com/embed/7w8szZ4TxCk?rel=0

                Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
     Video Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JHUAPL, [5]Naval Research Lab, [6]Parker
                                 Solar Probe

   Explanation: Everybody sees the Sun. Nobody's been there. Starting in
   2018 though, NASA [7]launch[8]ed the robotic [9]Parker Solar Probe
   (PSP) to [10]investigate regions near to the Sun for the first time.
   The [11]PSP's looping [12]orbit brings it yet closer to the Sun
   [13]each time around -- every few months. The [14]featured time-lapse
   video shows the view looking sideways from [15]behind PSP's Sun shield
   during its first approach to the Sun a year ago -- to about half the
   orbit of [16]Mercury. The [17]PSP's Wide Field Imager for Solar Probe
   ([18]WISPR) cameras took the images over nine days, but they are
   digitally compressed here into about 14 seconds. The waving [19]solar
   corona is visible on the far left, with stars, planets, and even the
   central band of our [20]Milky Way Galaxy streaming by in the background
   as the PSP orbits the Sun. [21]PSP has found the solar neighborhood to
   be [22]surprisingly complex and to include [23]switchbacks -- times
   when the [24]Sun's magnetic field briefly reverses itself. The Sun is
   not only Earth's dominant [25]energy source, its variable [26]solar
   wind compresses Earth's atmosphere, triggers auroras, affects power
   grids, and can even [27]damage orbiting communication satellites.

                     Tomorrow's picture: satellite swarm
     __________________________________________________________________

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     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [39]Robert Nemiroff ([40]MTU) & [41]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([42]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [43]Specific rights apply.
              [44]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [45]ASD at [46]NASA / [47]GSFC
                           & [48]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://www.youtube.com/embed/7w8szZ4TxCk?rel=0
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.jhuapl.edu/
   5. https://www.nrl.navy.mil/
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180815.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180816.html
   9. http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VO5GcfgCz8
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe
  12. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4653
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Solar_Probe#Timeline
  14. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13484
  15. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03665-3
  16. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mercury/overview/
  17. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-humanity-s-first-visit-to-a-star
  18. https://www.nrl.navy.mil/ssd/branches/7680/WISPR
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190130.html
  20. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/milkyway1.html
  21. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasas-parker-solar-probe-sheds-new-light-on-the-sun
  22. https://i0.wp.com/puppytoob.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Messy_Dog_11.jpg
  23. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13484
  24. https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/main/item/37
  25. https://www.energy.gov/science-innovation/energy-sources
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html
  27. https://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/rhessi3/mission/science/the-impact-of-flares/index.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191208.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  37. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191209
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191210.html
  39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  40. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  41. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  42. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  43. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  45. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/
  47. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  48. http://www.mtu.edu/