Solar Orbiter
Look at How Much the Sun Has Changed in Just Two Years
The solar cycle has been reasonably well understood since 1843 when Samuel Schwabe spent 17 years observing the variation of…
Small Magnetic Fields Have a Big Impact on the Sun's Atmosphere
Surrounding the brilliant Sun is a layer of diffuse plasma known as the corona. You can't see it most of…
A Last-Minute Addition to the Solar Orbiter Allows it to See More Deeply into the Sun’s Atmosphere
Spacecraft instruments are highly specialized and can take years to design, build, and test. But a last-minute hack to one…
Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More With Each Pass
On April 10th, ESA's Solar Orbiter made its closest flyby of the Sun, coming to within just 29% of the…
ESA’s Solar Orbiter Spies a Transit of Mercury
Solar Orbiter’s unique vantage point recently allowed researchers to make a crucial observation, of the solar system’s innermost world.
Solar Orbiter was hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection as it was About to Make a Flyby of Venus
Massive solar storms on the Sun are becoming more common as it moves into a period of increasing solar activity…
Solar Orbiter’s Pictures of the Sun are Every Bit as Dramatic as You Were Hoping
On March 26th, the ESA's Solar Orbiter made its closest approach to the Sun so far. It ventured inside Mercury's…
ESA’s Solar Orbiter Takes a Ludicrously High Resolution Image of the Sun
The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter snaps an amazing image, en route to its first close pass near the Sun.
A Colossal Flare Erupted From the Far Side of the Sun
Earlier this week the Sun erupted with a huge explosion, blasting solar particles millions of kilometers into space. The team…
This Video of Comet Leonard (with Venus and Mercury) will Blow Your Mind
Since early this year, skywatchers on Earth have been tracking Comet Leonard, a kilometer-wide dirty snowball made of ice, rock…