NASA reveals unprecedented images of the Sun that shed light on the mysteries of space weather.

▲ Conceptual image shows the Parker Solar Probe about to enter the sun's corona. Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University/Ben Smith

AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, July 17, 2025, p. 6

Washington. The closest images ever taken of the Sun reveal eruptions of plasma stacked on top of each other and details of the solar wind, a veritable gold mine for scientists.

NASA last week revealed these images taken by the Parker probe on December 24, 2024, that will improve understanding of space weather and help protect Earth from solar threats.

We've been waiting for this moment since the late 1950s , said Nour Rawafi, Parker mission scientist.

Other space probes had already studied the Sun, but at a much greater distance.

The mission, launched in 2018, bears the name of American astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who first described the phenomenon of solar winds, the continuous flow of particles from the Sun, in 1958.

The Parker probe recently entered its final orbit, which brought it within approximately 6.1 million kilometers of the Sun's surface.

A proximity record first achieved at Christmas 2024 and repeated twice since then, in March and June, following an 88-day cycle.

It was very close to the Sun. To give you an idea: if the distance between the Earth and the Sun were one kilometer, Parker would have been only 40 meters from the star.

The spacecraft's only camera, Wispr , captured images as Parker explored the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona.

Combined into a short video, these new images reveal for the first time in high resolution coronal mass ejections (CMEs), the enormous jets of ionized particles that play a role in the development of space weather.

These eruptions are, among other things, the cause of the spectacular northern lights visible across much of the world last May.

We have several CMEs stacked on top of each other, which is what makes them so unique , explains Nour Rawafi. It's truly incredible to see this dynamic in action , she adds.

Another striking detail: the solar wind, flowing from the left of the image, traces a structure called the heliospheric current layer: an invisible boundary where the Sun's magnetic field oscillates from north to south.

It is very important because it plays an essential role in the propagation of solar flares and their potential impact on Earth.

Space weather can have serious consequences, such as overloading power grids, disrupting communications, and damaging satellites.

Preventing collisions between the thousands of additional satellites expected to enter orbit in the coming years is becoming increasingly complex, especially during solar disturbances, which can slightly deviate their trajectory.

Decades ahead

The Sun is now heading toward the minimum of its activity cycle, expected in about five to six years.

Some of the most extreme solar storms occurred during this downward phase, such as the famous Halloween storms of 2003, which forced astronauts on the International Space Station to take extra precautions against radiation.

Capturing one of these gigantic eruptions (...) would be a dream , says Rawafi.

Parker still has far more fuel than initially anticipated and could continue operating for several decades, until its solar panels degrade to the point where they no longer provide enough power to maintain the probe's orientation.

When its mission ends, the probe will slowly disintegrate, becoming, according to Rawafi, part of the solar wind itself .

▲ Rock NWA 16788 sold for just over $5 million. AP Photo

Ap

La Jornada Newspaper, Thursday, July 17, 2025, p. 6

New York. The largest piece of Mars ever discovered on Earth sold yesterday for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York. The skeleton of a juvenile dinosaur was also on sale, fetching over $30 million.

The 25-kilogram rock, named NWA 16788, was discovered in Niger's Sahara Desert by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after it was ejected from the surface of Mars by the impact of a massive asteroid and traveled 225 million kilometers to Earth, according to Sotheby's. The pre-auction estimate was $2 million to $4 million.

The identity of the buyer has not yet been disclosed. The final bid was $4.3 million. Adding various fees and costs, the official asking price was approximately $5.3 million.

The red, brown, and gray meteorite is approximately 70 percent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7 percent of all Martian material currently on the planet, Sotheby's says. It measures 375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters.

It was also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites among the more than 77,000 meteorites officially recognized on Earth, according to the auction house.

"This Martian meteorite is by far the largest piece of Mars we've ever found ," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's vice president of science and natural history, noted in an interview before the auction. "It's more than twice the size of what we previously thought was the largest Martian piece ."

It is unknown exactly when the meteorite was ejected from the surface of Mars, but tests have revealed that it likely occurred in recent years, Sotheby's says.

Hatton noted that a specialized laboratory examined a small fragment and confirmed it was from Mars. It was compared to the distinctive chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered by the Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 1976, he said.

Analysis revealed it to be shergottite (olivine-gabbro) , a type of Martian rock formed by the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a coarse-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, according to the auction house.

The meteorite was previously on display at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby's did not reveal the owner.

Bidding for the skeleton of the juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis dinosaur began with a high pre-bid of $6 million, then escalated to bids of $500,000 and $1 million, before closing at $26 million. The official sale price was $30.5 million, including fees and costs.

Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at the Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. It measures over 1.8 meters tall and nearly 3 meters long.

Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it ready for display, Sotheby's said.

The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby's said.

Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were short-armed bipeds that resembled Tyrannosaurus rex , but were smaller. They could grow up to 7.6 meters (25 feet), while Tyrannosaurus rex could reach 12 meters (39 feet).