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The Sun

Last post 10-07-2009 10:48 AM by Terry Kucera. 1 replies.
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  • 10-07-2009 7:19 AM

    The Sun

    Becky J (Fx)

    Do you think a probe will ever be sent into the sun to learn more about its structure?

     

  • 10-07-2009 10:48 AM In reply to

    • Terry Kucera
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Joined on 02-27-2005
    • NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA
    • Posts 220

    Re: The Sun - probe inside the sun

     

    Hi Becky,

    Sending something actually into the Sun would be very tough - the Sun is so hot that everything there is vaporized. You'd have to be very clever to get around that. At the moment NASA is working on a mission to send a probe about 3.5 million miles  from the Sun's surface, which is stll a challenge.

    We are  probing the Sun's interior remotely by studying its vibrations. this is called "helioseismology". In many ways it is similar to the seismology we use to find out about the inside of the Earth - we have not observed that directly either.

    cheers,

    Terry

     

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