ESA's Solar Orbiter captured a "tube of cooler atmospheric gases snaking its way through the Sun’s magnetic field," according ...

The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has sent home the highest resolution views of the sun's surface to date, providing fresh views ...

Several views of the sun as seen by Solar Orbiter in March 2025. The three larger views show the sun in visible light, map the magnetic field at its surface and show the sun in ultraviolet light.

Solar Orbiter used momentum from its flyby of Venus on February 18 to push itself out of the ecliptic plane that contains Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Around a month later, the spacecraft was ...

But in February, Solar Orbiter used a gravity-assist flyby around Venus to tilt its trajectory, enabling a view of the sun from about 17 degrees below the equator.

Solar Orbiter used a slingshot flyby around Venus in February to get out of this plane to view the sun from up to 17 degrees below the solar equator. Future slingshot flybys will provide an even ...

Solar Orbiter will continue to orbit around the Sun at this tilt angle until 24 December 2026, when its next flight past Venus will tilt its orbit to 24°. From 10 June 2029, the spacecraft will ...

Solar Orbiter’s latest data reveals the Sun’s magnetic south pole in a state of chaos, with a mix of north and south magnetic fields rather than a single dominant one, like on Earth.

ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team, E. Kraaikamp (ROB) Solar Orbiter was launched in 2020, and since then has made a number of close approaches to the sun.

Every image you've ever seen of the sun is looking at its equator, because Earth's orbit sits there with a 7.25-degree tilt. That means humans have never had a good angle to view the sun's north ...

But in February, Solar Orbiter used a gravity-assist flyby around Venus to tilt its trajectory, enabling a view of the sun from about 17 degrees below the equator.