^ "Parker’s cameras, which look out the side of the spacecraft into the solar wind, have provided some of the first evidence confirming a nearly century-old theory: the presence of a dust-free zone near the Sun."
That's the word in a tweet by NASA, vividly pictured in the included photo, describing one of the surprising findings in initial investigations by their Parker Solar Probe. So far—according to NPR—Parker has flown within 15 million miles of the Sun three times; in 2025, it is scheduled to fly within 4 million miles or "about one-tenth the orbital distance of Mercury."
NASA's main article on their initial findings is here; along with the dust-free zone, it includes big picture items like the solar wind near the Sun rotating faster than predicted, "quick reversals in the magnetic field and sudden, faster-moving jets of material" in the solar wind near the Sun, and "many more tiny energetic particle events [or "particle bursts"] than we ever thought."
~~~~~~~~~ The original 16" x 6.75" watercolor art for today's new A* page is up for auction on eBay. : )
