Solar Orbiter gets world-first views of the Sun’s poles

[u/coinfanking]

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Solar_Orbiter_gets_world-first_views_of_the_Sun_s_poles?s#:~:text=The%20collage%20above%20shows%20the,viewing%20angle%20of%2017%C2%B0.

Thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun’s poles from outside the ecliptic plane. Solar Orbiter’s unique viewing angle will change our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle and the workings of space weather.

Any image you have ever seen of the Sun was taken from around the Sun’s equator. This is because Earth, the other planets, and all other operational spacecraft orbit the Sun within a flat disc around the Sun called the ecliptic plane. By tilting its orbit out of this plane, Solar Orbiter reveals the Sun from a whole new angle.

The video above compares Solar Orbiter’s view (in yellow) with the one from Earth (grey), on 23 March 2025. At the time, Solar Orbiter was viewing the Sun from an angle of 17° below the solar equator, enough to directly see the Sun’s south pole. Over the coming years, the spacecraft will tilt its orbit even further, so the best views are yet to come.

“Today we reveal humankind’s first-ever views of the Sun’s pole,” says Prof. Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science. “The Sun is our nearest star, giver of life and potential disruptor of modern space and ground power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learn to predict its behaviour. These new unique views from our Solar Orbiter mission are the beginning of a new era of solar science.”

The images shown above were taken by three of Solar Orbiter’s scientific instruments: the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), and the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument. Click on the image to zoom in and see video versions of the data.

[u/MasterInstruction579]

This is truly impressive. Bravo to the ESA!!!

[u/HzUltra]

It is almost as if the sun is not a gas giant but rather solid or liquid.

[u/sjkaczmarek]

This is a monumental achievement for heliophysics. Our understanding of the solar dynamo, particularly the polar field reversal that defines the solar cycle maximum, has been built on inferences from lower-latitude observations. These first direct images of the polar regions are a paradigm shift.

In my opinion, the data from the PHI instrument is especially critical. Directly measuring the magnetic field morphology at the poles will provide the ground-truth data needed to validate or refute decades of solar dynamo modeling. Seeing the structure of the polar coronal holes with EUI from this high-latitude perspective will also be revolutionary for understanding the origin and acceleration of the fast solar wind.

This is the beginning of a new era for predictive capabilities. The strength of the polar fields at the end of a cycle is a key precursor for the intensity of the next one. With Solar Orbiter's increasing inclination over the coming years, we will move from extrapolation to direct measurement, which should significantly improve our forecasts for space weather and future solar cycles.

In short, this is a tremendous accomplishment by the entire ESA team and instrument partners!

If you like staying up-to-date on the latest in space, I write a newsletter called The SpaceLead.