Why Europe's Solar Orbiter is Angling towards The Sun's Poles | ESA

Why Europe's Solar Orbiter is Angling towards The Sun's Poles | ESA

This infographic by the European Space Agency, titled "Why Solar Orbiter is Angling Towards the Sun's Poles", illustrates the mission’s unique trajectory and scientific goals. At the center of the image, the Sun is shown with dynamic magnetic field lines, emphasizing polar activity. To the left, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is depicted with its orbital path marked for 2025 and 2028, showing how it gradually tilts to observe the Sun’s poles. The top right explains the solar dynamo mechanism, while the bottom right highlights the role of polar observations in understanding space weather and the Sun’s global magnetic field.

This image shows Solar Orbiter's view of the Sun's south pole on March 23, 2025. It was taken by the spacecraft's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument, which captures the ultraviolet light sent out by the million-degree gas in the Sun's outer atmosphere (the corona).

The image shows an intensity map, revealing the locations of clumps of carbon ions. The data shown here were recorded on March 22–23, 2025, when Solar Orbiter was facing the Sun from an angle of 17° below the solar equator. The images are each composed of three observations that were subsequently stitched together.

This image is a velocity map of the Sun’s south pole, captured by Solar Orbiter’s SPICE instrument. The map is filled with red and blue colors, which represent motion. Red areas show material moving away from the observer, while blue areas show material moving toward the observer. The background is black, making the colored regions stand out clearly. Curved lines and a faint grid overlay the image, indicating lines of solar latitude and longitude. A label in the bottom right corner notes that the data was taken in ultraviolet light at a temperature of 32,000 °C.

All images you have ever seen of the Sun were taken from near the Sun's equator, from within the ecliptic plane where all planets and nearly all spacecraft orbit the Sun. In February 2025, Solar Orbiter became the first Sun-watching spacecraft ever to tilt its orbit out of the ecliptic plane.

In June 2025, the European Space Agency-led mission to provided humanity with the first-ever clear views of the Sun's south pole. All ten of Solar Orbiter’s scientific instruments will collect unprecedented data in the years to come.

As we have never clearly seen the poles before, Solar Orbiter may uncover unexpected structures or movements, including polar vortices (swirling gas) similar to those seen around the poles of Venus and Saturn. Additionally, more of the Sun's magnetic field at the poles opens up to space, and Solar Orbiter will be able to see how this changes throughout the solar cycle.

Solar Orbiter’s groundbreaking high-latitude observations are key to understanding the Sun’s magnetic field and why it flips roughly every 11 years, coinciding with a peak in solar activity. Current models and predictions of the 11-year solar cycle fall short of being able to predict exactly when and how powerfully the Sun will reach its most active state.

Additionally, particle and magnetic field detectors on the spacecraft will be the first to track the movement of solar material—including solar wind, bursts of charged particles called coronal mass ejections, and particles moving close to the speed of light—away from the Sun’s equator. This can inform and improve space weather forecasts, important for reducing its impact on Earth.

Finally, measurements of the Sun’s magnetic field at higher latitudes allow Solar Orbiter to map more of the Sun’s global magnetic field as it changes throughout the solar cycle. While the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument can measure local magnetic fields at the Sun’s surface, Solar Orbiter’s magnetometer (MAG) instrument measures the magnetic field near the spacecraft. The latter can reveal the large-scale structure of the Sun’s magnetic field.

Learn more: 
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Solar_Orbiter_gets_world-first_views_of_the_Sun_s_poles

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.

Credits: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Acknowledgements: ATG Europe; Sun images based on data from ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI and SPICE Teams.
Release Date: June 11, 2025

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