WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:04.620
Heard anything about the Parker Solar Probe lately? What's up
2
00:00:04.669 --> 00:00:10.390
with that? Parker Solar Probe, named for Eugene Parker. He's
3
00:00:10.529 --> 00:00:17.190
a solar physicist who back in the 1950s proposed the
4
00:00:17.449 --> 00:00:22.030
crazy idea that maybe the sun is releasing particles from
5
00:00:22.070 --> 00:00:24.469
its surface in the form of what today we would
6
00:00:24.489 --> 00:00:28.570
call the solar wind. And these particles would stream out
7
00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:34.179
through the solar system and collide with planets, possibly.
8
00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:35.950
Generating Earth's aurora.
9
00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:39.909
Well, how are you gonna confirm all this You can
10
00:00:39.969 --> 00:00:42.729
use telescopes, but you really kind of want to go there. Well,
11
00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:48.179
that's hard and dangerous because why? The sun is hot. Finally,
12
00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:55.020
the engineering came to pass. The design and construction of
13
00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:59.810
this remarkable space probe became a reality. The reason why
14
00:00:59.829 --> 00:01:03.969
I'm talking about it is the Parker Solar Probe just
15
00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:05.790
made its closest approach to the sun.
16
00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:07.390
And how close was that?
17
00:01:07.620 --> 00:01:11.280
The closest we've ever sent anything to the sun, five
18
00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.629
sun diameters away. And since the sun has such a
19
00:01:15.709 --> 00:01:20.549
huge gravitational field, anything that flies that close to the sun,
20
00:01:21.049 --> 00:01:25.420
its speed increases from the gravitational attraction of the sun.
21
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.459
And as a result, the Parker Solar Probe has reached
22
00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:33.769
the highest speed ever for any human-made craft and hit
23
00:01:33.829 --> 00:01:39.099
a top speed of 430,000 miles an hour. So how
24
00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:43.859
fast is 430,000 miles an hour? That's fast by terrestrial standards,
25
00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:51.060
but in the universe, it amounts to six one hundredths
26
00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:53.959
of one percent of the speed of light.
27
00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.079
So, get over it.
28
00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:58.730
The point of this is not to show off how
29
00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.170
fast it's moving or how hot it's become, it's to
30
00:02:01.209 --> 00:02:06.920
make measurements of the sun to more deeply understand what
31
00:02:06.950 --> 00:02:10.960
we call solar weather. The storms on the sun release
32
00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.740
particles into space that actually have a way of heating
33
00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.000
the outer atmosphere of.
34
00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:19.599
The sun, which we call the corona.
35
00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:23.280
The corona is what's rendered visible during a total solar eclipse.
36
00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:25.240
It's millions of degrees.
37
00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:30.770
Much hotter than the sun's surface for reasons that remain
38
00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:37.990
a little bit mysterious. However, it's very sparsely populated by
39
00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:38.949
gas molecules.
40
00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:42.889
How hot would it feel? I don't know.
41
00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:46.810
If a particle hits here and then there, you're not
42
00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:52.560
bathed in a complete solution of hot gas if you
43
00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:54.969
were in the coroner. And it's likely that you could
44
00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:58.240
just survive it just fine, even though it's millions of degrees.
45
00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:02.379
What would be much more damaging to you and devastating
46
00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:05.590
is the radiant heat coming from the surface of the
47
00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:08.860
sun itself. And the Parker Solar Probe Why doesn't it melt?
48
00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:13.620
Because it's shielded by the substance, the element on the
49
00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.319
periodic table that has the very highest melting point.
50
00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:19.639
What could it be? Is it some metal?
51
00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:22.889
The highest melting point element on the table by far
52
00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:28.310
is carbon. So there's a carbon composite shield there, rather thick,
53
00:03:28.830 --> 00:03:33.009
but nonetheless to protect it from the sun. It is there,
54
00:03:33.550 --> 00:03:35.909
always oriented in a way to shield the rest of
55
00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:39.150
its electronics. to make the measurements of the magnetic field,
56
00:03:39.389 --> 00:03:43.129
the particle flux, the whatever might be the heating mechanism
57
00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:44.550
for the corona.
58
00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.090
It's the sun close up and personal.
59
00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:50.270
And I guess we can say that's touching the sun
60
00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:54.759
because the corona is part of the sun's full atmospheric
61
00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:58.939
structure and size and shape. But when you're told a
62
00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:02.349
probe is touching the sun, what are you thinking? You're
63
00:04:02.389 --> 00:04:04.969
probably thinking it's going to skim the surface of the sun.
64
00:04:05.569 --> 00:04:07.060
It's like, no, that's not.
65
00:04:07.409 --> 00:04:10.199
It's going to be five solar diameters away from its surface.
66
00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:14.199
Little human interest fact that there's a little memory card
67
00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.500
that is flying on this mission that has a photo
68
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:25.079
of Eugene Parker, a file containing his original paper he
69
00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:29.839
published in 1958, making some radical predictions in what would
70
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:35.240
become the solar wind. as well as the names of 1.1
71
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.100
million people. People that want a little piece of themselves,
72
00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:42.759
their name, to participate in the exploration of the solar system,
73
00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:48.490
and in this particular case, to kiss the sun. The sun,
74
00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:52.410
the nearest star in space to Earth. The more we
75
00:04:52.449 --> 00:04:56.970
understand it, the better able we will be to accommodate
76
00:04:57.529 --> 00:05:02.449
the idiosyncrasies of the sun's cycle. It's 11 and 22
77
00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:06.060
year cycle. Some of it remains a bit mysterious to us.
78
00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:10.199
We're scared a little bit because explosions on the sun
79
00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.819
can send a flux of particles that will have the
80
00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:17.360
power to knock out much of our orbiting satellites unless
81
00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:23.329
the satellites are electronically hardened, as the expression goes. So
82
00:05:23.910 --> 00:05:27.470
we are particularly susceptible in modern times, given how much
83
00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:31.970
of our economy and our national security depends on space assets.
84
00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.899
The more we know about space weather generated by the sun,
85
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.879
the better off we will be. And so that's a
86
00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:42.410
little bit of what's up with that.
1
00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:04.620
Heard anything about the Parker Solar Probe lately? What's up
2
00:00:04.669 --> 00:00:10.390
with that? Parker Solar Probe, named for Eugene Parker. He's
3
00:00:10.529 --> 00:00:17.190
a solar physicist who back in the 1950s proposed the
4
00:00:17.449 --> 00:00:22.030
crazy idea that maybe the sun is releasing particles from
5
00:00:22.070 --> 00:00:24.469
its surface in the form of what today we would
6
00:00:24.489 --> 00:00:28.570
call the solar wind. And these particles would stream out
7
00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:34.179
through the solar system and collide with planets, possibly.
8
00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:35.950
Generating Earth's aurora.
9
00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:39.909
Well, how are you gonna confirm all this You can
10
00:00:39.969 --> 00:00:42.729
use telescopes, but you really kind of want to go there. Well,
11
00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:48.179
that's hard and dangerous because why? The sun is hot. Finally,
12
00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:55.020
the engineering came to pass. The design and construction of
13
00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:59.810
this remarkable space probe became a reality. The reason why
14
00:00:59.829 --> 00:01:03.969
I'm talking about it is the Parker Solar Probe just
15
00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:05.790
made its closest approach to the sun.
16
00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:07.390
And how close was that?
17
00:01:07.620 --> 00:01:11.280
The closest we've ever sent anything to the sun, five
18
00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.629
sun diameters away. And since the sun has such a
19
00:01:15.709 --> 00:01:20.549
huge gravitational field, anything that flies that close to the sun,
20
00:01:21.049 --> 00:01:25.420
its speed increases from the gravitational attraction of the sun.
21
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.459
And as a result, the Parker Solar Probe has reached
22
00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:33.769
the highest speed ever for any human-made craft and hit
23
00:01:33.829 --> 00:01:39.099
a top speed of 430,000 miles an hour. So how
24
00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:43.859
fast is 430,000 miles an hour? That's fast by terrestrial standards,
25
00:01:43.900 --> 00:01:51.060
but in the universe, it amounts to six one hundredths
26
00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:53.959
of one percent of the speed of light.
27
00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:56.079
So, get over it.
28
00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:58.730
The point of this is not to show off how
29
00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.170
fast it's moving or how hot it's become, it's to
30
00:02:01.209 --> 00:02:06.920
make measurements of the sun to more deeply understand what
31
00:02:06.950 --> 00:02:10.960
we call solar weather. The storms on the sun release
32
00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.740
particles into space that actually have a way of heating
33
00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.000
the outer atmosphere of.
34
00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:19.599
The sun, which we call the corona.
35
00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:23.280
The corona is what's rendered visible during a total solar eclipse.
36
00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:25.240
It's millions of degrees.
37
00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:30.770
Much hotter than the sun's surface for reasons that remain
38
00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:37.990
a little bit mysterious. However, it's very sparsely populated by
39
00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:38.949
gas molecules.
40
00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:42.889
How hot would it feel? I don't know.
41
00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:46.810
If a particle hits here and then there, you're not
42
00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:52.560
bathed in a complete solution of hot gas if you
43
00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:54.969
were in the coroner. And it's likely that you could
44
00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:58.240
just survive it just fine, even though it's millions of degrees.
45
00:02:59.180 --> 00:03:02.379
What would be much more damaging to you and devastating
46
00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:05.590
is the radiant heat coming from the surface of the
47
00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:08.860
sun itself. And the Parker Solar Probe Why doesn't it melt?
48
00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:13.620
Because it's shielded by the substance, the element on the
49
00:03:13.659 --> 00:03:17.319
periodic table that has the very highest melting point.
50
00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:19.639
What could it be? Is it some metal?
51
00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:22.889
The highest melting point element on the table by far
52
00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:28.310
is carbon. So there's a carbon composite shield there, rather thick,
53
00:03:28.830 --> 00:03:33.009
but nonetheless to protect it from the sun. It is there,
54
00:03:33.550 --> 00:03:35.909
always oriented in a way to shield the rest of
55
00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:39.150
its electronics. to make the measurements of the magnetic field,
56
00:03:39.389 --> 00:03:43.129
the particle flux, the whatever might be the heating mechanism
57
00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:44.550
for the corona.
58
00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.090
It's the sun close up and personal.
59
00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:50.270
And I guess we can say that's touching the sun
60
00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:54.759
because the corona is part of the sun's full atmospheric
61
00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:58.939
structure and size and shape. But when you're told a
62
00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:02.349
probe is touching the sun, what are you thinking? You're
63
00:04:02.389 --> 00:04:04.969
probably thinking it's going to skim the surface of the sun.
64
00:04:05.569 --> 00:04:07.060
It's like, no, that's not.
65
00:04:07.409 --> 00:04:10.199
It's going to be five solar diameters away from its surface.
66
00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:14.199
Little human interest fact that there's a little memory card
67
00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.500
that is flying on this mission that has a photo
68
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:25.079
of Eugene Parker, a file containing his original paper he
69
00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:29.839
published in 1958, making some radical predictions in what would
70
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:35.240
become the solar wind. as well as the names of 1.1
71
00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:38.100
million people. People that want a little piece of themselves,
72
00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:42.759
their name, to participate in the exploration of the solar system,
73
00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:48.490
and in this particular case, to kiss the sun. The sun,
74
00:04:48.990 --> 00:04:52.410
the nearest star in space to Earth. The more we
75
00:04:52.449 --> 00:04:56.970
understand it, the better able we will be to accommodate
76
00:04:57.529 --> 00:05:02.449
the idiosyncrasies of the sun's cycle. It's 11 and 22
77
00:05:02.449 --> 00:05:06.060
year cycle. Some of it remains a bit mysterious to us.
78
00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:10.199
We're scared a little bit because explosions on the sun
79
00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.819
can send a flux of particles that will have the
80
00:05:12.860 --> 00:05:17.360
power to knock out much of our orbiting satellites unless
81
00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:23.329
the satellites are electronically hardened, as the expression goes. So
82
00:05:23.910 --> 00:05:27.470
we are particularly susceptible in modern times, given how much
83
00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:31.970
of our economy and our national security depends on space assets.
84
00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.899
The more we know about space weather generated by the sun,
85
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.879
the better off we will be. And so that's a
86
00:05:39.939 --> 00:05:42.410
little bit of what's up with that.
