Parker Solar Probe
The Parker Solar Probe is a NASA spacecraft launched in 2018 to study the Sun's outer atmosphere. It is designed to withstand extreme heat and radiation as it approaches within 3.8 million miles of the solar surface, providing unprecedented data on solar activity and space weather.
Source: science.nasa.gov
APODs including "Parker Solar Probe"
Meteor before Galaxy
12/08/2018
What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a sand-sized rock from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseids meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks again tonight. Gallery: NASA Launch of the Parker Solar Probe