Scientists are attempting closest-ever approach to Sun
Well, the scientists are sending a machine, they're not flying there themselves.
A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make the closest-ever approach to the Sun. Scientists aren't just sending the Parker Solar Probe out into space to see if it burns up, though, as they're hoping it will survive the trip.
The probe is currently out of communication, and will be for several days. We'll know if it has survived on the 28th of December, when it is expected to send out a signal. It's hoped that if this mission is successful, it'll help us better understand how the Sun works.
Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at Nasa, told the BBC that "for centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don't experience the atmosphere of a place until you actually go visit it. And so we can't really experience the atmosphere of our star unless we fly through it."
The Parker Solar Probe launched in 2018, and has swept past the sun a total of 21 times, but this is its closest encounter yet. It'll be 3.8 million miles from the Sun, which doesn't sound close, but we're 93 million miles away, and so the Parker Solar Probe will be feeling the heat.
