Launched in August 2018, the Parker Probe has been steadily approaching the surface of the Sun. In December 2021, it made its first passage through the upper corona layer, marking the first-ever close encounter between a human-made probe and the Sun.
In the latest dive into the depths of space, the Parker Probe has captured even more astounding scenes, including crisp images from inside a solar coronal mass ejection, revealing a space teeming with turbulent eddies around the probe.
Scientists believe this may be an expression of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI).
This phenomenon also occurs on Earth but is extremely rare, typically appearing as wave-like cloud formations generated by the interaction of fluids moving at different speeds.
Analysis suggests that on the Sun, KHI may form at the boundary between the hot plasma flow and the solar wind, which consists of a continuous stream of charged particles emitted from the solar corona.
