The Solar Orbiter Probe!

You may wonder what it is about, Solar Orbiter, was the flagship mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the Sun that was successfully launched in February 2020. The objective of the project is to investigate the star to help understand the heliosphere (it is the space region that is under the influence of the solar wind and its magnetic field, which is made up of ions coming from the solar atmosphere and extends beyond the Pluto’s orbit) by studying phenomena such as the solar wind and its magnetic behavior.

It has managed to obtain detailed and precise images of the sun thanks to the fact that the spacecraft had an approximation equivalent to one third of the distance that separates the earth and the sun. At this point (known as perihelion), the probe was within the orbit of Mercury, and the temperature at this location reached around 500 degrees Celsius.

The task of observation and investigation is not easy, since the images captured by the Solar probe must be analyzed to detect characteristics and events that cannot be discovered at the moment. This activity must be compared with previous moments to see if there are coincidences.

One of them captures what is called a “hedgehog” figure captured from the perihelion, extending 25,000 kilometers across the Sun; a multitude of hot and cold gas spikes can be seen spreading out in all directions. In addition, several solar flares and an Earth-bound coronal mass ejection were also captured, giving a real-time weather forecast.

Amazing to be able to appreciate the sun in such a way that we never imagined we could!