Who is Parker Solar Probe?

The Parker Solar Probe is like a superhero that goes really, really close to the Sun.

Imagine you're playing outside on a hot summer day, and your face gets all red from being too close to the fire in the grill. That’s kind of what happens to the Parker SolarProbe, it gets super hot because it's going super close to the Sun, which is like a giant, glowing ball of fire in our sky.

The Parker Solar Probe isn’t just flying by, it zooms past the Sun, like a hot dog going through a flaming grill. It goes so fast that it can almost touch the Sun’s outer layer, called the corona, which is like the Sun's shiny hair.

But how does it not melt? Well, it has some really cool armor, special shields that protect it from the heat, just like your mom might put a lid on your soup to keep it from boiling over.

Every time it goes close to the Sun, it takes pictures and sends them back to Earth so scientists can learn more about how the Sun works. It's like sending a letter from the hottest place in our solar system!