New images from Solar Orbiter room vessels have offered an unprecedented look at the sun’s south pole that reveals a turbulent and complex magnetic field as the star approaches the most active phase of its natural cycle.
These pioneering images released Wednesday by the European Space Agency (ESA) mark a significant leap in heliophysics that provide fresh insight into the sun’s behavior, its magnetic field and its role in producing space weather, NBC News reported.
“The sun is our closest star, giving of life and potential disturbance of modern space and earth power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learns to predict its behavior,” Carole Mundell, science director at ESA, said in a statement.
She added that these “new unique views of our Solar Orbiter mission are the beginning of a new era of solar science.”
Heliophysicists are already taking advantage of observations showing intense magnetic activity on the South Pole when the sun is gathering for its solar maximum.
The sun’s natural cycle spans approx. 11 years, and switches from a quiet period of low magnetic activity to a very active phase marked with powerful sunscreen and storms. Under the solar maximum, the sun’s magnetic poles undergo a flip where the South Pole becomes magnetic north.
While the exact reasons for this flip and its exact timing remain unclear, the Solorbit’s data can help reveal these mysteries.
Researchers have observed that the sun’s south pole is currently exhibiting a jumble of magnetic fields with both north and south polarities. This magnetic “Mishmash” is expected to be temporary that lasts only below the solar maximum before the magnetic field is fully.
When flip occurs, a single polarity is expected to gradually establish itself at the poles as the sun moves towards its quieter sunflower.
“How exactly this structure 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,” explained Sami Solanki, director of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany and leading scientist for Solar Orbiter Field.
Former close -ups of the sun have always been caught from around its equator of spacecraft orbiting along a plane similar to the earth’s. However, due to Solar Orbiter’s unique lane, the spacecraft allows to tilt its orbit and achieve higher than normal solar groups.
The newly released images were caught in late March when Solar Orbiter was placed 15 degrees under the Sun’s Equator and then a few days later at 17 degrees below the equator. This elevated perspective gave the probe its first direct view of the sun’s south pole.
Launched in February 2020, Solar Orbiter is a collaborative mission between ESA and National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
