A NASA spacecraft is about to give astronomers an epic early Christmas present with the closest ever flyby of the sun on Dec. 24, but if you're wondering exactly when the ambitious solar encounter will occur, don't worry. We've got you covered.
The NASA spacecraft, called the Parker Solar Probe, is on course for what will be a record-setting close flyby of the sun on Christmas Eve, when it will fly through the star's outer atmosphere at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT) and pass within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the star's surface The flyby is the final trial for the Parker Solar Probe, which has made a series of ever-closer swings by the star (and seven flybys of Venus) on its mission to understand the sun like never before.
