NASA had a special Christmas gift last year. On December 24, the Parker Solar Probe reached the closest it will ever get to the Sun. As it flew just 6.1 million kilometers (3.8 million miles) from its surface, it snapped a picture of the solar wind, the stream of particles that is released from the Sun, which can travel at a speed of over 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) per hour.

You might be wondering why the picture is not of the surface of the Sun. Why get so close without photographing the surface? That’s because it would literally cook the spacecraft. Parker was designed with a shield that can withstand the over 1,000 degree temperatures of the solar corona at that distance from the Sun, but its internal temperature is a cosy 29°C (85°F). A camera directed at the Sun, even w

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