The new images of the orbiter’s solar spacecraft have offered an unprecedented look at the South Sun Pole, revealing a turbulent and complex magnetic field as the star approaches the most active phase of its natural cycle.
These pioneer images, launched on Wednesday by the European Space Agency (ESA), mark a significant leap in heliophysics, providing new ideas about the behavior of the sun, its magnetic field and its role in the production of space climate, NBC news reported.
“The sun is our closest star, giving in life and potential disruptor of the modern systems of space and soil, so it is imperative that we understand how we work and learn to predict their behavior,” said Carole Mundell, director of ESA Sciences, in a statement.
He added that these “new unique views of our solar orbitter mission are the beginning of a new era of sun science.”
Heliophysicists are already benefiting from the observations, which show an intense magnetic activity in the South Pole as the sun prepares for its maximum solar.
The natural cycle of the Sun covers approximately 11 years, moving from a quiet period of low magnetic activity to a highly active phase marked by powerful flares and solar storms. During the solar maximum, the magnetic poles of the sun undergo a flip, with the South Pole it becomes the magnetic north.
While the precise reasons for this flip and its exact synchronization still are clear, the solar orbiter data can help unravel these mysteries.
Scientists have observed that the South Sun Pole currently exhibits a mixture of magnetic fields with north and south polarities. This magnetic “Mishash” is expected to be temporary, and lasts only during the solar maximum before the magnetic field is completely turned.
Once the flip occurs, a single polarity is expected to gradually establish in the poles as the sun moves towards its quieter minimum solar phase.
“How exactly this accumulation occurs is not yet completely understood, so the solar orbiter has reached high latitudes at the right time to follow the entire process from its unique and advantageous perspective,” said Sami Solanki, director of the Max Planck Institute for the investigation of the solar system in Germany and led the PHI instrument of Orbitter Solar Orbitter, which maps the magnetic field of the surface of the sun.
The previous close -up images have always been captured around their Ecuador by the spacecraft in orbit along a plane similar to that of the Earth. However, due to the unique trajectory of the solar orbiter, it allowed the spacecraft to tilt its orbit and achieve higher solar latitudes.
The recently launched images were captured at the end of March, when the solar orbiter was placed 15 degrees below Ecuador del Sol, and then a few days later at 17 degrees below Ecuador. This high perspective provided the probe its first direct view of the South Sun Pole.
Released in February 2020, the solar orbiter is a collaborative mission between ESA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
