![]() ![]() NASA and the ESA launched Solar Orbiter in 2020, with a goal of studying these. “Together with our European partners, we're entering a new era of heliophysics that will transform the study of the Sun and help make astronauts safer as they travel on Artemis program missions to the Moon," NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen said previously in a statement. A solar flare erupts the bright flash on the upper left side of the image on January 10, 2023. The process was not easy The Solar Orbiter was inside the orbit of Mercury, at about one-third the distance from the Sun to the Earth. Every 11 years, the poles flip beginning a new cycle of solar activity, which can jeopardize power stations on Earth and could put astronauts in danger. Now, the the European Space Agency has shared a Sun photo taken from the closest-ever point The European Space Agencys Solar Orbiter took a Sun photo on March 26, 2022, which is the closest so far. Eventually, scientists hope to obtain information about the Sun’s poles. As Solar Orbiter was making its trek toward perihelion, it passed a crucial point in space: the Earth-Sun line. With all of the instruments working, the Solar Orbiter is now continuing its mission as planned. Solar Orbiter takes images at the Earth-Sun line. “The pandemic required us to perform critical operations remotely - the first time we have ever done that,” said Russell Howard, principal investigator for one of Solar Orbiter's imagers. And during commissioning, when each instrument is extensively tested, ESOC staff was reduced to only essential personnel. They were taken on 7 March, when the spacecraft was crossing directly between the Earth and sun. Solar Orbiter, launched on 10 February 2020, carries six remote-sensing instruments, or telescopes, that image the Sun and its surroundings, and four in situ instruments that monitor the environment around the spacecraft. Mission control at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany closed completely for more than a week. Solar Orbiters latest images shows the full sun in unprecedented detail. ![]() ![]() The mission has also been challenged by the coronavirus pandemic. On March 3, 2022, just a few months into Solar Orbiter’s nominal mission, the spacecraft’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) returned data showing for the first time that a magnetic phenomenon called. Unique Solar System Views from NASA Sun-Studying Missions. The Solar Orbiter has encountered some of the usual challenges associated with space exploration - in early June, it had an unexpected run-in with comet ATLAS’s ion and dust tails. ESA’s Solar Orbiter may have taken another step towards solving the eighty-year-old mystery of why the Sun’s outer atmosphere is so hot. ![]()
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