Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Hundreds of engineers, scientists, and technicians spent nearly a decade constructing the Parker Solar Probe to send it into the Sun’s atmosphere where it will study how the solar wind is created. The solar wind is a gas that streams off from the Sun, strong enough to strip away a planet’s atmosphere. Scientists currently do not understand how that gas is accelerated away from the Sun. Parker Solar Probe will be able to answer these questions by physically going to the spot where we think the solar wind is created and watching it happen. To do this, the Parker Solar Probe has to go into the outer layers of the Sun, six times closer than Mercury. At this point, the spacecraft will be going 430,000 miles per hour and shielded from temperatures of over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Interview: Chris “Gilly” Gilbert, graduate student at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder.
Free for Educational Use
4K Planetarium Domemasters and educator guides available: https://www.colorado.edu/fiske/fiske-productions
Fiske is one of the largest planetariums in the US, having served CU Boulder & the local community since 1975. We offer a diverse range of fulldome films, live talks, laser and liquid sky shows, as well as public gatherings for astronomical and NASA-related events.
Follow Fiske Planetarium:
Website | https://www.colorado.edu/fiske
Instagram | instagram.com/fiskeplanet
Facebook | facebook.com/teamfiske
Hundreds of engineers, scientists, and technicians spent nearly a decade constructing the Parker Solar Probe to send it into the Sun’s atmosphere where it will study how the solar wind is created. The solar wind is a gas that streams off from the Sun, strong enough to strip away a planet’s atmosphere. Scientists currently do not understand how that gas is accelerated away from the Sun. Parker Solar Probe will be able to answer these questions by physically going to the spot where we think the solar wind is created and watching it happen. To do this, the Parker Solar Probe has to go into the outer layers of the Sun, six times closer than Mercury. At this point, the spacecraft will be going 430,000 miles per hour and shielded from temperatures of over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Interview: Chris “Gilly” Gilbert, graduate student at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder.
Free for Educational Use
4K Planetarium Domemasters and educator guides available: https://www.colorado.edu/fiske/fiske-productions
Fiske is one of the largest planetariums in the US, having served CU Boulder & the local community since 1975. We offer a diverse range of fulldome films, live talks, laser and liquid sky shows, as well as public gatherings for astronomical and NASA-related events.
Follow Fiske Planetarium:
Website | https://www.colorado.edu/fiske
Instagram | instagram.com/fiskeplanet
Facebook | facebook.com/teamfiske
