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For more than 60 years, various space vessels and telescopes have traveled in space to look at the sun, capturing haunting images of the giant hot gas ball in the heart of our solar system. Our vision of the star is however limited by the orbital plane of the earth, which allows us to observe the equator of the sun on the sun while its polar regions remain in a frustrating blindness. The solar orbit is now the first to image the posts from the outside of the ecliptic plane, offering a rare look at its chaotic magnetic field.
Wednesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) released The first clear images of the South Sun Pole, revealing that north and southern magnetic polarities are currently present on the same side. The new images will help scientists better understand the 11 -year -old magnetic cycle of the sun and what governs its solar explosions which sometimes lead to Geomagnetic storms on earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4DCDGAMM0
The solar orbiter used the momentum of its overview of Venus on February 18 to get out of the ecliptic plane which contains the orbit of the earth around the sun. About a month later, the spacecraft was able to see the star from a 17 -degree angle under the solar equator, just enough to have a good view of the South Sun Pole for the first time.
“We did not know exactly what to expect from these first observations – the posts of the sun are literally terra incognita,” said Sami Solanki, who heads the team of instruments of polarimetric and heliosmic imaging instruments of Solar Orbiter of research on the solar system in Germany, in a press release.
The scientific team used three instruments on board the solar orbit to capture images of the sun between March 16 and 17. Each instrument observes the sun in a different way; The polarimetric imaging and heliooseism (phi) captures the sun in the visible light, the extreme ultraviolet imaging (EUI) the ultraviolet images, and the spectral imaging of the instrument of the coronal environment (spice) detects the light emitted by the gas charged above the surface of the sun.
By combining the observation powers of the three instruments, scientists observed the southern pole of the sun in the troubles. Normally, each polar region has its own magnetic field characteristics. While the sun reaches a solar maximum period during its 11 -year cycle, its magnetic polarity returns, the north and southern magnetic poles inverting. During observations by the solar orbit on the sun, the northern polarity and the southern poles are both present in the South Pole.
This marks a crucial moment to understand the activity of the sun. After the magnetic field has turned, a single polarity accumulates slowly in the poles of the sun and takes over. When the sun reaches its solar minimum in about five to six years, the north and south poles will each have their own magnetic polarity. “The way in which this accumulation occurs exactly is still not fully understood, so the solar orbiter has reached high latitudes at the right time to follow the whole process of its unique and advantageous perspective,” said Solanki.
Scientists behind the mission used spices to measure how solar material tufts move through the surface of the sun. Using the Doppler effect, which describes changes in light or sound frequency when it moves away or towards the source, the team has created a speed card showing how the speed of the material varies between the poles of the sun and the equatorial region. With the help of Solar Orbiter, scientists will understand a better understanding of the reasons why the solar wind moves more quickly to the poles than to the Ecuador du Soleil.
The solar orbiter is just beginning. Recent observations are the first set of images captured from the newly tilted orbit of the spacecraft, but the spacecraft is prepared for another Venus overflight on December 24, 2026, which will further incline its orbit at 23 degrees under the equator to obtain an even better view of the Posts of the Sun.
“This is only the first stage of” Stairway to Heaven “by Solar Orbiter: in the years to come, the spacecraft will be released further from the ecliptic plane forever viewed in the polar regions of the sun,” said Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter Project Scientist, in a press release. “These data will transform our understanding of the magnetic field of the sun, solar wind and solar activity.”
