World News for Students of English

01-01-2025 07:00

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has set a record by flying closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft.

On Christmas Eve, it reached just 6.1 million km from the Sun’s surface, enduring temperatures of 1,400°C and harmful radiation that could have damaged its systems. Traveling at 692,000 kph, it became the fastest human-made object, equivalent to flying from London to New York in under 30 seconds.

The probe survived thanks to a heat shield that kept its instruments cool. Scientists believe the data it collects will help answer why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is much hotter than its surface. The corona, reaching millions of degrees, is key to understanding solar flares, magnetic fields, and space weather that affect Earth. Initial data will be analyzed starting in January, providing insights into the Sun’s behavior and its impact on our planet.

Difficult words: radiation (energy from the Sun that can harm electronics), corona (the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere), magnetic field (an invisible force around magnetic objects).

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