NASA shares post on sungrazing comet captured by Parker Solar Probe for the first time. Watch

The Parker Solar Probe was launched back in 2018 with a mission to observe the outer corona of the sun.

The Sun has been an object of mystery and fascination for people for ages. With advancement in technology, now it’s possible for scientists to unveil a bit of that enigma. Moreover, thanks to social media profiles maintained by the different space agencies, we get a chance to witness some of the happenings involving the star. Just like this post shared on NASA Sun and Space’s Twitter handle. It shows a sungrazing comet.

The post was shared on NASA Sun and Space’s Twitter handle.

In the caption, they wrote that the comet was captured by the Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft which was launched back in 2018 with a mission to observe the outer corona of the sun.

“#ParkerSolarProbe’s camera is designed to image the solar wind & the Sun’s wispy outer atmosphere, the corona. But a recent batch of data also showed a sungrazing comet for the first time, confirming the mission can also study these hard-to-see comets,” the space agency wrote while sharing a GIF showing the encounter.

The post is complete with a link describing the event in detail. It explains that sungrazer is a particular class of comet and they fly extremely close to the Sun. However, they are very small in size, besides being dim. Hence, it is impossible to detect their presence from Earth or observatories, except NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO.

Since being shared, the post has received over 200 likes and some comments from people.

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