1
00:00:11,886 --> 00:00:12,846
Absolutely. 

2
00:00:12,846 --> 00:00:15,849
So 3.8 million miles sounds pretty far.

3
00:00:15,974 --> 00:00:19,394
But it's actually flying,
through the solar corona.

4
00:00:19,394 --> 00:00:21,604
That's the upper atmosphere of the sun.

5
00:00:21,604 --> 00:00:26,359
And if you had a, a football field
with the Earth at one side and the Sun

6
00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:30,613
at the other, Parker Solar Probe
would be right at the four yard line.

7
00:00:30,613 --> 00:00:34,534
So it really is in the red zone
here, in more ways than one.

8
00:00:34,534 --> 00:00:38,079
And, really
an unprecedented view of our sun.

9
00:00:46,087 --> 00:00:46,504
Sure.

10
00:00:46,504 --> 00:00:50,592
So, yeah, our sun is a constant,
but it's incredibly dynamic.

11
00:00:50,592 --> 00:00:51,926
And you have to remember

12
00:00:51,926 --> 00:00:55,513
that everything that our sun does
affects us here on Earth.

13
00:00:55,513 --> 00:00:58,516
So it's really important
that we drill in and,

14
00:00:58,725 --> 00:01:01,686
really deeply understand
what's going on at the sun.

15
00:01:01,895 --> 00:01:05,023
So, for instance,
we're here at, Solar maximum,

16
00:01:05,148 --> 00:01:09,944
which is the time that the sun is
the most, dynamic, and it has explosions

17
00:01:09,944 --> 00:01:13,948
all the time, these huge coronal mass
ejections and solar flares,

18
00:01:14,532 --> 00:01:17,869
and those are the biggest,
most energetic explosions

19
00:01:17,869 --> 00:01:22,373
in our solar system and, actually larger
than the entire planet Earth.

20
00:01:22,874 --> 00:01:27,545
They're really just, some,
some unbelievable, things to observe.

21
00:01:27,670 --> 00:01:30,673
And so by passing this close to the sun,

22
00:01:30,965 --> 00:01:34,469
we're able to observe these,
explosions close up.

23
00:01:34,677 --> 00:01:37,931
And instead of having them
get all stirred up and blurred

24
00:01:37,931 --> 00:01:42,477
by the time, they reach the earth,
we're getting to see the pristine,

25
00:01:42,727 --> 00:01:45,855
processes happening
right up close to their origin.