NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission has discovered that the Sun's atmosphere, known as the corona, is much larger than previously thought, reaching up to 8 million kilometers above the surface of the astro. The results of the study have been published in The Astrophysical Journal .
NASA scientists say this finding will help researchers prepare for the Solar Probe Plus mission , scheduled to launch in 2018. This mission will send a spacecraft closer to the Sun than an object has ever been before. man-made: 6.4 million kilometers, so thanks to this new discovery, we already know that the space probe will travel through the solar corona throughout its historic journey.
" The mission will be able to directly measure the density, speed and magnetic field of the solar material 'in situ', which allows us to understand how movement and heat are generated in the corona and the solar wind," says Craig DeForest , study leader.
According to the scientists, the results of this work will also help astronomers define the inner boundary of the heliosphere, the giant bubble that envelops the solar system, created by the solar wind and the solar magnetic field.
