Parker Solar Probe, Take the Solar Plunge |
Parker Solar Probe, Take the Solar Plunge |
Dec 25 2005, 12:33 AM
Post
#101
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Any serious plans to send a probe into the Sun to explore its depths as far as possible?
What would help a probe last as long as it could and how deep could it get? Could it even radio or laser out any data? What about a Sun skimmer? -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
|
|
Mar 3 2021, 12:04 AM
Post
#102
|
||
Member Group: Members Posts: 204 Joined: 20-November 05 From: Mare Desiderii Member No.: 563 |
What's going on with all the streaks? These pictures make space seem very... not-empty.
This is the press release explanation, but I still have questions: QUOTE Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. If it's dust and/or cosmic rays, why don't approximately all deep-space images have this sort of artifact? (I assume PSP isn't shedding orders of magnitude more material than other spacecraft at this point in its orbit.) Is there something special about the instrument or observation that makes it pick this stuff up? (I know it has a very wide FOV, where most imagers we're used to are very narrow, but I'm failing to understand why that would have this effect.) In some frames, particularly the fourth frame in Ian R's latest (reproduced here), the tracks are curved, which makes me think they can't be cosmic rays (should be fast = straight)? But that seems like a lot of dust. What is going on in this picture? (I assume the more orderly streaks are curved star trails, so presumably the spacecraft was changing attitude during the observation.) |
|
|
||
Mar 3 2021, 12:38 AM
Post
#103
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Protons from the Sun are a type of cosmic ray and PSP is uniquely close to the Sun.
The trails can curve as they lose energy inside a solid medium. Of course, one variable that drives up the number of artifacts is the exposure duration, and seeing the night side of Venus involves a relatively high exposure duration, but that depends on a lot of variables. Deep Sky Object imagery is pretty prone to pick up on both cosmic ray hits and (from Earth, more likely) satellite / space junk / asteroid trails, and in images where you don't see those, there's a good chance that someone made an effort to remove them. I tend to shoot multi exposure images and when one out of many frames has such a flaw, I just don't use that frame for that part of the composite. for example. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 24th September 2024 - 05:58 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |