Nasa's hotly anticipated solar mission renamed to honour astrophysicist Eugene Parker

Renamed the Parker Solar Probe to honour solar astrophysicist who predicted high speed solar wind, the spacecraft will attempt to get close to sun's surface

Nasa has announced its hotly anticipated mission to send a spacecraft into the sun's outer atmosphere has a new name.

Formerly known as the Solar Probe Plus mission, the endeavour will now be known as the Parker Solar Probe, honouring the American solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker who predicted a high speed solar wind - the stream of charged particles, or plasma, that flows from the sun out into space.