File me under the category of "didn't even know this was remotely, hypothetically possible":
A NASA spacecraft has officially "touched" the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.
Scientists announced the news Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April during the spacecraft's eighth close approach to the sun. Scientists said it took a few months to get the data back and then several more months to confirm.
"Fascinatingly exciting," said project scientist Nour Raouafi of Johns Hopkins University.
"Fascinatingly exciting." Yeah, that guy clearly minored in Understatement Studies. What about "mind-blowingly jaw-droppingly unbelievable?"
I mean...the sun clocks in at about 10,000º F at its surface. Getting within even several million miles of it is pretty nuts. Think about how hot it was at your July 4 cookout this year...and you're 93 million miles away from that thing!
