Latest news with #EUI
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Humanity takes its 1st look at the sun's poles: 'This is just the first step of Solar Orbiter's stairway to heaven' (images)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter has captured humanity's first-ever images of the sun's poles. If this doesn't seem like a big deal, consider that every image you have ever seen of the sun was taken from around our star's equator. That is because Earth, the other solar system planets, and all other modern spacecraft orbit the sun in a flat disc around it called the "ecliptic plane." This European Space Agency (ESA) sun-orbiting mission has done things a little differently, however, tilting its orbit out of that plane. This allowed the Solar Orbiter to image the sun from a whole new angle and in an entirely new way. The captured images of the solar south pole were taken between March 16 and 17, 2025, with the Solar Orbiter's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), and Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instruments. They constitute humanity's first ever look at the sun's poles. This was the Solar Orbiter mission's first high-angle observation campaign of the sun, conducted at an angle of 15 degrees below the solar equator. Just a few days after snapping these images, the ESA spacecraft reached a maximum viewing angle of 17 degrees, which it sits in currently as it performs its first "pole-to-pole" orbit of our star. "Spacecraft normally orbit the sun on the flat disc called the ecliptic plane, just like most of the planets in our solar system. This is the most energy-efficient way to launch and maintain orbits," co-principal leader of the Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument, Hamish Reid of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London (UCL) said in a statement to "These first images of the solar poles are just the start. Over the next few years, there is scope for discovery science. "We are not sure what we will find, and it is likely we will see things that we didn't know about before." Another ESA/NASA spacecraft, Ulysses, has flown over the poles of the sun, but this spacecraft lacked an imaging instrument, and its passage of our star was also much further away than that of the Solar Orbiter. The Solar Orbiter is so useful for observing the sun because each of its instruments sees our star in very different ways. The PHI captures solar observations in visible light and is able to map its magnetic field. Meanwhile, the EUI images our star in ultraviolet light, which allows scientists to study the superheated plasma in the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, which can reach temperatures as great as 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit (around 3 million degrees Celsius). This could help solar scientists determine how the corona can reach temperatures much greater than the sun's surface, the photosphere, despite being much further away from the solar core, where the vast majority of the sun's heat is generated. The SPICE instrument of the Solar Orbiter, responsible for the bottom row of images in the picture above, is capable of capturing light emitted by plasmas at different temperatures above the surface of the sun. This helps to model the different layers of the solar atmosphere. Comparing these three different but complementary methods of observing the sun should allow solar scientists to map the flow of material through the outer layers of the sun. This effort could reveal hitherto undiscovered and unexpected patterns of movement, like vortices around the poles of the sun similar to those spotted above the poles of Venus and Saturn. All that is for the future, so what has this pioneering approach to solar observations revealed thus far? The main aim of the shift in Solar Orbiter's orbit around the sun is to build a more complete picture of our star's magnetic activity. This could help explain the sun's 11-year cycle that sees its activity increase toward solar maximum before the poles flip and a new cycle begins. "Being able to observe the poles is vital for understanding how the sun's magnetic field operates on a global scale, leading to an 11-year cycle in the sun's activity," Lucie Green of Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL, who has been working with the Solar Orbiter since 2005, said. "We'll see previously unobserved high-latitude flows that carry magnetic elements to the polar regions, and in doing so sow the fundamental seeds for the next solar cycle." Indeed, this approach has already revealed things we didn't know about our star's most southern region and its magnetism. "We didn't know what exactly to expect from these first observations – the sun's poles are literally terra incognita,' Sami Solanki, who leads the PHI instrument team from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), said in a statement. One of the first discoveries made by the Solar Orbiter is the fact that the magnetic fields around the sun's southern poles appear to be, for lack of a better phrase, a complete mess. While standard magnetic fields have well-defined north and south poles, these new observations reveal that north and south polarities are both found at the sun's southern seems to happen at solar maximum when the poles of the sun are about to flip. Following this exchange of poles, the fields at the north and south poles will maintain an orderly single polarity during solar minimum until solar maximum during the next 11-year cycle. "How exactly this build-up occurs is still not fully understood, so Solar Orbiter has reached high latitudes at just the right time to follow the whole process from its unique and advantageous perspective," Solanki Solar Orbiter observations also revealed that while the equator of the sun, where the most sunspots appear, possesses the strongest magnetic fields, those at the poles of our star have a complex and ever-changing structure. The Solar Orbiter's SPICE instrument provided another first for the ESA spacecraft, allowing scientists to track elements via their unique emissions as they move through the sun. Tracing the specific spectral lines of elements like hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, neon, and magnesium, a process called "Doppler measurement," revealed how materials flow through different layers of the sun. The Solar Orbiter also allowed scientists to measure the speed of carbon atoms as they are ejected from the sun in plumes and jets. "The Solar Orbite''s new vantage point will give us a fuller view of how solar wind expands to form a vast bubble around the sun and its planets called the heliosphere," Principal Investigator on the Solar Wind Analyser and Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL researcher Chris Owen said in a statement to "We will now see this happen in three dimensions, enhancing the single slice we get from observing only in the ecliptic plane." SPICE team leader, Frédéric Auchère from the University of Paris-Saclay, explained that Doppler measurements of the solar wind flowing from the sun by other sun-orbiting missions have suffered because they could only get a grazing view of the solar poles. "Measurements from high latitudes, now possible with Solar Orbiter, will be a revolution in solar physics," Auchère added. Related Stories: — The sun's magnetic field will flip soon. Here's what to expect — How the Sun's Magnetic Field Works — Magnetic fields appear to be as old as the universe itself. What created them? Perhaps the most exciting element of these Solar Orbiter results is the fact that the best is yet to come. This initial data has not yet been fully analyzed, for instance, an image of the solar north pole has been captured but not downloaded yet. Also, data from the ESA mission's first full "pole-to-pole" orbit of the sun, which began in February 2025, will not arrive at Earth until October 2025. "This is just the first step of Solar Orbiter's 'stairway to heaven.' In the coming years, the spacecraft will climb further out of the ecliptic plane for ever better views of the sun's polar regions," ESA's Solar Orbiter project scientist Daniel Müller said. "These data will transform our understanding of the sun's magnetic field, the solar wind, and solar activity."
Straits Times
11-06-2025
- Science
- Straits Times
Solar Orbiter spacecraft obtains first images of the sun's poles
Eight views of the sun's south pole obtained on March 16–17, 2025, by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft's the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) and Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instruments, are seen in this image released by the European Space Agency on June 11, 2025. ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/PHI, EUI & SPICE Teams/Handout via REUTERS A radiance map of the sun's south pole as recorded by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is seen in this image released by the European Space Agency on June 11, 2025. ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/PHI Team, J. Hirzberger (MPS)/Handout via REUTERS The robotic Solar Orbiter spacecraft has obtained the first images ever taken of our sun's two poles as scientists seek a deeper understanding of Earth's host star, including its magnetic field, its 11-year cycle of activity and the solar wind. The European Space Agency on Wednesday released images taken in March using three of Solar Orbiter's onboard instruments. They show the sun's south pole from a distance of roughly 40 million miles (65 million km), obtained at a period of maximum solar activity. Images of the north pole are still being transmitted by the spacecraft back to Earth. Solar Orbiter, developed by ESA in collaboration with the U.S. space agency NASA, was launched in 2020 from Florida. Until now, all the views of the sun have come from the same vantage point - looking face-on toward its equator from the plane on which Earth and most of the solar system's other planets orbit, called the ecliptic plane. 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 better view, at beyond 30 degrees. "The best is still to come. What we have seen is just a first quick peek," said solar physicist Sami Solanki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, who heads the scientific team for the spacecraft's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager instrument. "The spacecraft observed both poles, first the south pole, then the north pole," Solanki said. "The north pole's data will arrive in the coming weeks or months." Solar Orbiter is gathering data on phenomena including the sun's magnetic field, its activity cycle, and the solar wind, a relentless high-speed flow of charged particles emanating from the sun's outermost atmospheric layer that fills interplanetary space. "We are not sure what we will find, and it is likely we will see things that we didn't know about before," said solar physicist Hamish Reid of University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK co-principal investigator of Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager instrument. The sun is a ball of hot electrically charged gas that, as it moves, generates a powerful magnetic field, which flips from south to north and back again every 11 years in what is called the solar cycle. The magnetic field drives the formation of sunspots, cooler regions on the solar surface that appear as dark blotches. At the cycle's beginning, the sun has fewer sunspots. Their number increases as the cycle progresses, before starting all over again. "What we have been missing to really understand this (solar cycle) is what is actually happening at the top and bottom of the sun," Reid said. The sun's diameter is about 865,000 miles (1.4 million km), more than 100 times wider than Earth. "Whilst the Earth has a clear north and south pole, the Solar Orbiter measurements show both north and south polarity magnetic fields are currently present at the south pole of the sun. This happens during the maximum in activity of the solar cycle, when the sun's magnetic field is about to flip. In the coming years, the sun will reach solar minimum, and we expect to see a more orderly magnetic field around the poles of the sun," Reid said. "We see in the images and movies of the polar regions that the sun's magnetic field is chaotic at the poles at the (current) phase of the solar cycle - high solar activity, cycle maximum," Solanki said. The sun is located about 93 million miles (149 million km) from our planet. "The data that Solar Orbiter obtains during the coming years will help modelers in predicting the solar cycle. This is important for us on Earth because the sun's activity causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections which can result in radio communication blackouts, destabilize our power grids, but also drive the sensational auroras," Reid said. "Solar Orbiter's new vantage point out of the ecliptic will also allow us to get a better picture of how the solar wind expands to form the heliosphere, a vast bubble around the sun and its planets," Reid added. A previous spacecraft, Ulysses, flew over the solar poles in the 1990s. "Ulysses, however, was blind in the sense that it did not carry any optical instruments - telescopes or cameras - and hence could only sense the solar wind passing the spacecraft directly, but could not image the sun," Solanki said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Forbes
27-04-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Solar Orbiter Sends Back Jaw-Dropping Image Of Sun's Corona
The sun's million-degree hot atmosphere, called the corona, as it looks in ultraviolet light, taken ... More by ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft on March 9, 2025. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft — launched in February 2020 and taking the first-ever images of the sun at close range — has sent back one of the most detailed images of our star. The widest high-resolution view of the sun so far was assembled from 200 images taken on March 9, 2025, while Solar Orbiter was about 48 million miles (77 million kilometers) from the sun. The sun is 93 million miles (148 million kilometers) from Earth. It shows the sun's hotter outer atmosphere, its corona (crown), the source of the solar wind — a stream of charged particles coming at Earth from the sun — and the space weather that causes geomagnetic storms and aurora. The image captures only ultraviolet — electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than visible light and invisible to the human eye. A composite of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. (Photo by: VW Pics/Universal Images Group ... More via Getty Images) The sun's corona is always in the sky, but it's overwhelmed by the sun's photosphere, which is a million times brighter. However, the corona's temperature is around 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit (1 million degrees Celsius), 150 times hotter than the photosphere. Only during the brief 'totality' phase of a total solar eclipse — which lasts only a few minutes and only from a narrow path across Earth's surface — can the corona be glimpsed with the naked eye when it is seen as a halo of whitish light around the moon's silhouette. The brevity of an eclipse makes it difficult for solar physicists to study the corona. However, live images of the sun are streamed back to Earth in real time by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory. This animation shows how Solar Orbiter obtains its high-resolution full Sun views. Solar Orbiter has six ultraviolet telescopes taking the first observations from close to the sun. Its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) camera captured six images at high resolution and two wide-angle views to create 200 individual images across a 5 x 5 grid. The images were then stitched together to create a giant mosaic. It can be downloaded in spectacular 12544 × 12544 pixels (157 megapixels) quality from the ESA website. It comes the day after the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — the world's largest solar telescope — on top of the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii produced a spectacular first image of sunspots on the sun. ESA's Solar Orbiter The shape of the corona changes shape throughout the 11-year solar cycle, during which the sun's magnetic activity waxes and wanes between 'solar minimum' and 'solar maximum. Solar Orbiter's image comes as the sun is in its "solar maximum" period, which scientists at NOAA and NASA think began in October 2024. Solar Orbiter's image is essential because solar scientists need to understand what processes on the sun — and chiefly in its corona — cause geomagnetic disturbances on Earth so they can predict them, thus protecting critical infrastructure on Earth and in space. The path of totality sweeps near Iceland and over Spain on August 12, 2026. The next total solar eclipse is on Aug. 12, 2026. It will be seen from within a narrow path of totality that passes through eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain. Totality will last about two minutes. On Aug. 2, 2027, a totality lasting over six minutes will be seen from within a path passing through southern Spain, northern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The next total solar eclipse in the contiguous U.S. will occur on Aug. 22, 2044. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Stunning new Solar Orbiter images capture explosive activity on the sun
A new series of images from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is giving scientists the clearest view yet of the sun's volatile lower atmosphere-and unlocking critical insights into the forces behind solar eruptions and space weather. On March 9, 2025, while nearly 48 million miles from the sun, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft was oriented to capture a sweeping view of the solar surface, the European Space Agency noted. Using a 5x5 grid, its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) took six high-resolution images and two wide-angle views at each position. The result was a massive mosaic of 200 images, stitched together to create the widest high-resolution image of the Sun ever captured. "What you see is the Sun's million-degree hot atmosphere, called the corona, as it looks in ultraviolet light," the ESA explained. Astronomers say these images reveal the "middle zone" of the sun, between its stable surface and its erupting outer corona, where magnetic fields twist and plasma eruptions begin. The visible surface of the sun, called the photosphere, is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Strangely, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere-the corona-is much hotter, regularly reaching between 1.8 million and 3.6 million degrees. In some cases, it can spike as high as 72 million degrees, according to NASA. This superheated outer layer is made of plasma, a hot, electrically charged gas. It's also where powerful solar events like flares and eruptions begin. Scientists hope the data will eventually help explain why the sun's outer atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than its surface-one of solar physics' biggest mysteries. The images come just as Solar Orbiter enters its closest pass of the sun to date. Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. A team from University College London is using the data to better understand how solar storms develop. Understanding solar storms is key for improving space weather forecasting on Earth. The same activity that lights up the aurora can also interfere with satellites, GPS systems and power grids.
Saudi Gazette
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Europe maintains fragile democratic stability amid global decline, new study finds
LONDON — Despite divisions between east and west, Europe's standards of functioning democracy remain high, even as global standards decline, according to a study released on Thursday by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The latest Democracy Index shows that after a year of elections worldwide, global democracy has weakened, with 2024 continuing a trend of "democratic malaise", the report finds. 'While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as shown by the index trend since 2006, the world's democracies are struggling,' Joan Hoey, director for the Democracy Index said in a release. The annual study assesses five categories — electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, political culture — giving each country a score out of 10. Based on this, countries are classified as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes. This year, Norway topped the rankings with 9.81, while Afghanistan ranked lowest at 0.25. The sharpest declines were in government functioning and electoral process, with the average for the latter falling by 0.08 points compared to 2023, which the study considers 'was especially disappointing given that so many countries went to the polls in 2024'. Europe presented a mixed picture. Eastern Europe saw a slight decline, while Western Europe improved by a marginal 0.01 points. Nine of the world's top ten democracies are in Europe, with New Zealand the only exception in second place. Western Europe remains the highest-rated region and the only one to recover to pre-pandemic levels. However, the report highlights widespread public discontent, fuelling a shift towards anti-mainstream parties. According to the study, 'this dissatisfaction is fuelling a growing shift towards anti-mainstream parties, a trend widely illustrated by the many elections across the continent in 2024'. It adds that these elections were marked by a clear rejection of incumbent leaders and a surge in support for anti-establishment and populist political forces. There were notable shifts within the region: Portugal was upgraded to a "full democracy", while France slipped into the "flawed" category. Portugal was first downgraded in 2011 and recovered the status of a 'full democracy' in 2019. However, the EUI after considering the limitations on personal freedom resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic downgraded it again in 2020. France has also been close to the threshold score of 8.00 that separates 'full' from "flawed democracies", falling to the second category in 2010-13, 2015-18 and 2020-21, during what the EUI classifies as "periods of political turbulence in which the administration has faced widespread social unrest and/or internal divisions over policy, which undermined governance'. The report concludes that France's downgrade this year reflects a deterioration in the score for confidence in government. Eastern Europe, grouped with Central Asia in the report, saw 'the mildest regression of any region' declining by 0.02 points, to 5.35. This region saw a milestone as the Czech Republic and Estonia were upgraded from 'flawed democracies' to 'full democracies', gaining full democratic rating for the first time since 2013 when Czech Republic fell from the top category. By contrast, this year saw Romania downgraded from 'flawed democracy' to 'hybrid regime' status, after the cancellation of the presidential election resulted in the country dropping 12 places in the ranking. — Euronews
