Latest news with #SolarOrb
Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
- Science
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Solar Orbiter Obtains 1st Images of the Sun's Poles
ESA & NASA / Solar Orbiter / PHI Team, J. Hirzberger (MPS) / 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. 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 June 11 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 65 million kilometers, 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 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. 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, coprincipal 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 1.4 million kilometers, more than 100 times wider than Earth. ESA & NASA / Solar Orbiter / PHI, EUI & SPICE Teams / Handout via Reuters Eight views of the sun's south pole obtained on March 16–17, 2025, by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI), 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. '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 149 million kilometers 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.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Families gather at site of Germanwings plane crash to mark 10 years since tragedy
Hundreds of people have gathered to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Germanwings plane crash that killed 150. Family members of the victims travelled to the scene of the crash in the French Alps on Monday morning, where flight 9525 was brought down by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz on the afternoon of 24 March 2015. The aircraft had taken off from Barcelona, Spain just hours before, bound for Dusseldorf, Germany. READ MORE: Man forced to choke his own dog with his forearms during horrific 45-minute mauling READ MORE: Major Madeleine McCann update as prime suspect Christian Brueckner may walk free in just days All 150 of those on board lost their lives in the tragedy, including a group of 16 students and two teachers from a German high school and a 37-year-old mother from Manchester, along with her seven-month-old baby. Other victims included a pair of acclaimed German opera singers and a member of an Argentine rock band. Most of those killed originated from Germany and Spain, however the death toll included people from 17 different countries in total. While relatives and close friends paid their respects at the site of the incident, hundreds gathered in the western German town of Haltern am See to remember the 18-member school group who lost their lives on the same day a decade ago. Christian Krahl, principal of the Joseph Konig high school, remarked on the importance of remembering the tragedy. 'We want to be close to those who are infinitely sad to this day,' he told German news agency DPA. The town's mayor, Andreas Stegemann, told the agency that the tragedy is a permanent part of the town's history. Wreaths were laid at the town cemetery, where some of the students are buried alongside a memorial which resembles a schoolroom. Elsewhere, in the French village of Le Vernet - which is located near the crash site - Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Germanwings parent Lufthansa, laid flowers for the victims. Commemorations were also carried out at Barcelona airport and Dusseldorf airport. A book of condolences was made available at the latter to allow employees and travellers to write tributes. When investigators revealed that the crash was caused by the actions of the flight's co-pilot, many of the victim's loved ones reacted with shock and anger. It was later revealed that Lubitz had suffered from depression and sleeplessness in the months leading up to the incident, but was deemed fit to fly by his employer. A five-meter "Solar Orb" was erected at the site of the crash in 2017. Made up of 149 gilded aluminium plates, it is meant to represent all those who died on board except the co-pilot.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Victims of Germanwings crash in French Alps commemorated, 10 years on
Relatives of the 150 people killed in a Germanwings airplane crash in the French Alps marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy on Monday. Germanwings Flight 9525 was en route from Barcelona to the western German city of Dusseldorf on March 24, 2015, when it crashed near the commune of Le Vernet, killing all on board. Investigators believe the co-pilot, who suffered from a mental disorder, deliberately crashed the plane to take his own life. Among the victims were a group of school students from the town of Haltern am See, located in the western Ruhr region, Germany's former industrial heartland. Students and teachers at the Joseph König secondary school laid down white roses on Monday to commemorate the 16 students and two teachers killed in the crash. A moment of silence was held in Haltern at 10:41 am (0941 GMT) to mark the exact time of the crash 10 years ago. Pastoral counsellor Stephanie Rüsweg said the tragedy serves as a reminder that "the time we are given is a gift." "Tell your loved ones today that you love them," she told students gathered at the school. "This is how life triumphs over death. This is how love triumphs over death." Haltern Mayor Andreas Stegemann added: "We will not forget you." In a post on X, the premier of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia - where Haltern is located - said Germany is "united in remembering those who lost their lives 10 years ago." "We will honour their memory," wrote Hendrik Wüst. Many relatives have also travelled to the site of the tragedy in France to attend a memorial to commemorate the victims. A 5-metre-high memorial, known as the Solar Orb, was installed at the site in 2017, made up of 149 panels - one for each of the victims, excluding the co-pilot.
