Editing 2262: Parker Solar Probe
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | This is an informative comic meant to represent the relative distances of astronomical objects relative to the {{w|Parker Solar Probe}}. It also shows where the probe will be in 2025 if its mission continues going according to plan | + | {{incomplete|Created by a FRIED ROBOTIC SOLAR PROBE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
+ | This is an informative comic meant to represent the relative distances of astronomical objects relative to the {{w|Parker Solar Probe}}. It also shows where the probe will be in 2025 if its mission continues going according to plan. | ||
− | The Parker Solar Probe is a robotic spacecraft launched by NASA in 2018 with the mission of repeatedly probing and making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. It travels in an elongated orbit that passes close to the Sun and sometimes passes near Venus, arranged such that Venus nudges the orbit slightly in each pass to bring the probe's perihelion (the lower end of its orbit) closer and closer to the Sun. Two days before this comic was published {{w|Parker_Solar_Probe#Timeline|the probe again passed through perihelion}}, establishing new records for closeness to the Sun ( | + | The Parker Solar Probe is a robotic spacecraft launched by NASA in 2018 with the mission of repeatedly probing and making observations of the outer corona of the Sun. It travels in an elongated orbit that passes close to the Sun and sometimes passes near Venus, arranged such that Venus nudges the orbit slightly in each pass to bring the probe's perihelion (the lower end of its orbit) closer and closer to the Sun. Two days before this comic was published {{w|Parker_Solar_Probe#Timeline|the probe again passed through perihelion}}, establishing new records for closeness to the Sun (11.6 million miles) and speed (244,225 mph).[https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2020/01/29/parker-solar-probe-completes-fourth-closest-approach-breaks-new-speed-and-distance-records/] By the end of the probe's planned lifetime in 2025, it will pass within 4.3 million miles (6.9 million km), or about 5 solar diameters, of the Sun's surface, at a speed of 430,000 mph (690,000 km/h). |
{{w|Helios (spacecraft)|Helios 2}} was a solar probe launched in the 1976 that formerly held the records for closest man-made object to the Sun and fastest man-made object. Both records were surpassed by the Parker probe in 2018. | {{w|Helios (spacecraft)|Helios 2}} was a solar probe launched in the 1976 that formerly held the records for closest man-made object to the Sun and fastest man-made object. Both records were surpassed by the Parker probe in 2018. | ||
Line 18: | Line 19: | ||
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are standing on Earth. The way this diagram is drawn, they look like they could fall off Earth toward the Sun -- hence the comment "Careful!" -- though the joke is that in real life they would fall toward the center of the Earth, not toward the Sun. Also the surprise for many people is that it is much harder to reach the Sun than Pluto, because we travel so fast here on Earth. To reach the Sun this speed has to be reduced, which is a larger speed difference than the one needed to escape the Sun's gravity well. If you could "fall" off Earth, you would just keep the approximately same distance to the Sun, but drifting slowly away from Earth. | [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are standing on Earth. The way this diagram is drawn, they look like they could fall off Earth toward the Sun -- hence the comment "Careful!" -- though the joke is that in real life they would fall toward the center of the Earth, not toward the Sun. Also the surprise for many people is that it is much harder to reach the Sun than Pluto, because we travel so fast here on Earth. To reach the Sun this speed has to be reduced, which is a larger speed difference than the one needed to escape the Sun's gravity well. If you could "fall" off Earth, you would just keep the approximately same distance to the Sun, but drifting slowly away from Earth. | ||
− | The title text says the probe will get within 9 or 10 Sun- | + | The title text says the probe will get within 9 or 10 Sun-diameters of the Sun's surface. This is a bit of a mistake: it will actually get {{w|Parker Solar Probe|within that many Sun-''radii''}} -- only 4½ or 5 Sun-diameters. |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[A tall, but very narrow box with Earth at the top, with Cueball and Megan standing precariously "on top" of Earth on each side of the center, trying to keep their balance. At the very bottom is shown a slice of the Sun. Between Earth and the Sun the two inner planets and two spacecraft are depicted with relation to their distance from the Sun. The | + | :[A tall, but very narrow box with Earth at the top, with Cueball and Megan standing precariously "on top" of Earth on each side of the center, trying to keep their balance. At the very bottom is shown a slice of the Sun. Between Earth and the Sun the two inner planets and two spacecraft are depicted with relation to their distance from the Sun. The space craft closest to the Sun is shown two times at different times, as it moves closer and closer to the sun. All 7 object have labels close to them. The largest distance is between Venus and Mercury, with the Eart- Venus distance the second longest. The distance between object below Mercury is much shorter. There is a caption above the slim panel:] |
− | + | :<big>Looking down toward the Sun</big> | |
− | <big>Looking down toward the Sun</big> | + | :and the Parker Solar Probe |
− | <small>(Distances are to scale, sizes are ''not'' to scale)</small> | + | :<small>(Distances are to scale, sizes are ''not'' to scale)</small> |
:Earth | :Earth | ||
Line 73: | Line 40: | ||
:Parker Solar Probe (2025) | :Parker Solar Probe (2025) | ||
− | :Sun | + | :Sun |
+ | :<small>(Not to scale)</small> | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} |