The Solar Orbiter probe is the first to resume the polo poles from a perspective outside the orbital plane of the planets: help to understand the solar magnetic field.
Thanks to its recently inclined orbit with respect to the Eclitic plane (the imaginary plan in which the Earth and most of the planets around the Sun), the Solar Orbiter probe, led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA, is. The first mission to resume the Poles of the Sun by a perspective outside the orbital plane of the planets. This new single observation angle will help us understand better The solar magnetic fieldthe undececenial cycle of solar activity and spatial meteorology.
So far, all the images of the sun have been obtained from probes located more or less on the same orbital plane as the earth. Solar Orbiter has gradually tilted his orbit, coming to observe the sun from an angle of 17 ° under the solar equator on March 23, 2025, allowing the first direct observation of the South Silar Pole. This is only the beginning: in the coming years, The corner will increase further, offering even more complete and detailed views.
The solar poles. “Today we reveal the first ever images of the solar pole never seen by man,” said Prof. Carole Mundell, a scientific director of ESA. «The sun is the star closest to us, a source of life but also potentially dangerous for spatial and terrestrial technologies. Understanding its operation is essential to be able to predict its behavior. These images mark the beginning of a new era in solar science ». The collage published by the ESA shows the South Pole of the Sun observed between the 16 and 17 March 2025, when the probe was still 15 ° under the solar equatorduring his first high angle observation campaign.
What the tools on board reveal. The images were captured by three key tools aboard the probe: the PHi (Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager) which starts visible images and maps the surface magnetic field of the sun, theEui (Extreme Ultraviolet Imager) which captures the ultraviolet light from the crown, the external atmosphere of the sun, revealing gases to millions of degrees and it Spice (Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment) which uses UV spectroscopy to observe different layers of the solar atmosphere, measuring the presence and movement of elements such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, neon and magnesium.
“We did not know what to expect from these first observations: the polo poles are an unknown,” commented Profossor Sami Solanki, head of the Phi tool at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany).
Each tool provides a different piece of the complex solar activity. Combined images allow you to observe Plasma movements, magnetic interactions and unpublished atmospheric structuresincluding possible polar vortices similar to those noted on Venus and Saturn.
Disturbed magnetic field One of the first noteworthy discoveries concerns the Magnetic field at the South Polewhich proved to be particularly disturbed. Unlike a classic magnet with a well -defined North and South, The Phi measurements show the coexistence of opposite polarity in the polar region. This phenomenon occurs briefly during the maximum sunny, the most active phase of the sun -year -old cycle of the sun, when its magnetic field is reversed. During the next 5-6 years, the sun will move on to the minimum sun, when the activity is lower and the magnetic field reorganizes itself in a more orderly way.
“It is not yet clear how the orderly accumulation of polarities to the poles happens,” observes Solanki. “Solar Orbiter is in the ideal position to follow its evolution over time.”
The study of the sun wind. One of the most significant innovations is the use of the Spice tool to make Doppler measurements, which allow you to determine the speed of the plasma in the different layers of the solar atmosphere, thanks to the movement of the spectral lines of the chemical elements. In particular, a plasma speed map was obtained in the transition region, a layer where the temperature rises quickly from 10,000 ° C to hundreds of thousands of degrees. The red and dark blue areas in the Doppler map indicate rapid movement plasma jets, marking the areas from which the solar wind could originate.
“The previous Doppler measurements were limited by the radiant view of the poles,” explained Frédéric Auchère, head of the Spice team of the University of Paris-Saclay. «Now, thanks to the high latitude observations of Solar Orbiter, we can finally see how the sun wind takes shape to the poles. It is a revolution for solar physics ».
Future perspectives. These observations represent only the beginning. The complete set of data from the first “Polo to Polo” Data of the Solar Orbiter will be broadcast on the ground by October 2025. The ten scientific tools of the probe will continue to collect unprecedented data in the years to come.
“This is only the first step,” concludes Daniel Müller, a scientist of the ESA project for Solar Orbiter.
“As the probe It will reach increasingly high latitudes, we will get seen unprecedented by the solar poles. These data will radically transform our understanding of the solar magnetic field, the sun wind and the cycle of activity of our star ».
