News and Events
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[Solar Orbiter] Sensational pictures of the Sun
ESA’s space probe recently had a first close encounter with the Sun, sending back unprecedented pictures of our star and giving mission teams the opportunity to make sure its 10...
News Sciences General public, Specialist public, Science and technologyMay 18, 2022 -
Zooming into the Sun with Solar Orbiter
This image is a mosaic of 25 individual images taken on 7 March by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, EUI.
News SciencesMarch 24, 2022 -
Giant solar eruption seen by Solar Orbiter
The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured on 15 February the largest solar prominence eruption ever observed in a single image together with the full solar disc.
News SciencesFebruary 18, 2022 -
Solar Orbiter returns to Earth before starting...
Solar Orbiter is returning to Earth for a flyby on 27 November at an altitude of 460 km, passing through the clouds of space debris that surround our planet and making this...
News SciencesNovember 18, 2021 -
During Close Pass, Solar Orbiter Captures Venus’...
On Aug. 9, 2021, ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft passed within 4,967 miles (7,995 kilometers) of the surface of planet Venus. In the days leading up to the approach, the Solar...
News SciencesAugust 12, 2021 -
Solar Orbiter images first coronal mass ejections
By happy coincidence, three of Solar Orbiter’s remote sensing instruments captured a pair of coronal mass ejections in the days after February’s close flyby of the Sun. CMEs are...
News SciencesMay 18, 2021 -
‘Campfires’ offer clue to solar heating mystery
Computer simulations show that the miniature solar flares nicknamed ‘campfires’, discovered last year by ESA’s Solar Orbiter, are likely driven by a process that may contribute...
News SciencesApril 27, 2021 -
Solar Orbiter snaps Venus, Earth and Mars
This recording was made on 18 November 2020 by the Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) camera on board the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft. It reveals three Solar System planets...
News SciencesJanuary 26, 2021 -
Solar Orbiter prepares for festive Venus flyby
Solar Orbiter is getting ready for the first of many gravity assist flybys of Venus on 27 December, to start bringing it closer to the Sun and tilting its orbit in order to...
News SciencesDecember 17, 2020 -
Solar Orbiter: turning pictures into physics
Solar Orbiter’s latest results show that the mission is making the first direct connections between events at the solar surface and what’s happening in interplanetary space around...
News SciencesDecember 10, 2020 -
Solar Orbiter makes first close approach to the...
ESA’s Sun-exploring mission Solar Orbiter has made its first close approach to the star on June 15, getting as close as 77 million kilometres to its surface, about half the...
News SciencesJune 15, 2020 -
Solar Orbiter to pass through the tails of Comet...
ESA’s Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this...
News SciencesMay 29, 2020 -
ESA scales down science mission operations amid...
In response to the escalating coronavirus pandemic, ESA has decided to further reduce on-site personnel at its mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
News SciencesMarch 24, 2020 -
First Solar Orbiter instrument sends measurements
First measurements by a Solar Orbiter science instrument reached the ground on Thursday 13 February providing a confirmation to the international science teams that the...
News SciencesFebruary 17, 2020 -
Flying solo
Solar Orbiter will orbit our nearest star, the Sun, observing it up close. It will take the first-ever direct images of its poles, while also studying the inner heliosphere – the...
News SciencesFebruary 3, 2020 -
System validation tests for Solar Orbiter
System validation tests are currently held by the Solar Orbiter mission control team in Germany. It will be launched in February 2020.
News SciencesApril 8, 2019 -
3 Solar Orbiter components delivered in the...
3 parts of the upcoming Solar Orbiter satellite were delivered in the United Kingdom, pending tests before it launches towards the Sun in 2019
News SciencesAugust 22, 2017 -
Solar Orbiter antennae undergoing testing
ESA’s Solar Orbiter satellite is designed to study the Sun from only 42 million km away, or 60 solar radii, the closest observation ever achieved. CNES is supervising testing on 3...
News SciencesJune 21, 2017
