Solar Orbiter captures first-ever images of Sun’s poles — Reveals magnetic chaos

For the number one clip in story, scientists feature captured verbatim images of the Sun's north and south poles, thanks to the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter mission. By tilting its orbit 17 degrees out of the ecliptic plane — the flat plane in which Earth and most planets orbit — Solar Orbiter has provided humanity with a rare and valuable new view of our nearest star.

“Today we reveal humankind’s first-ever views of the Sun’s pole,” said Prof Carole Mundell, ESA’s Director of Science. “These new unique views from our Solar Orbiter mission are the beginning of a new era of solar science.”

Until now, all solar imagery has come from the equatorial perspective. The poles — critical to understanding the Sun’s magnetic field and solar cycle — remained hidden.

“What we have been missing to really understand this (solar cycle) is what is actually happening at the top and bottom of the sun,” said Dr. Hamish Reid, solar physicist at University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

The new images, released by ESA on Wednesday (June 10), were taken in March at a time of maximum solar activity, from about 40 million miles (65 million km) away. They reveal chaotic magnetic fields with both north and south polarity present at the Sun’s south pole — a phenomenon that only occurs during the solar maximum, when the Sun’s magnetic field is about to flip.

“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,” said Prof Sami Solanki, principal investigator of Solar Orbiter’s PHI instrument from Germany’s Max Planck Institute.

Solar Orbiter’s images are crucial to understanding the 11-year solar cycle, during which the Sun’s magnetic poles flip. This drives the formation of sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections — all of which can affect life on Earth.

“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,” explained Reid.

“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.”

Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between ESA and NASA, launched in 2020 from Florida. Its tilted orbit was achieved through a Venus gravity assist in February 2024. Further flybys will increase this angle beyond 30 degrees, enhancing our view of the polar regions.

“This is just the first step of Solar Orbiter's ‘stairway to heaven,’” said Daniel Müller, ESA’s Solar Orbiter project scientist. “These data will transform our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar wind, and solar activity.”

While the Ulysses mission in the 1990s flew over the solar poles, it lacked imaging capabilities.

“Ulysses... Did not carry any optical instruments — telescopes or cameras — and hence could not image the Sun,” said Solanki. “Solar Orbiter changes that.”

The data from the north pole is still being transmitted to Earth and is expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Scientists are eager to analyse the new imagery and expand models of the solar cycle and heliosphere — the vast bubble formed by the solar wind that envelops the entire solar system.

“The data that Solar Orbiter obtains during the coming years will help modelers in predicting the solar cycle,” said Reid. “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.”

Distance to the Sun: ~93 million miles (149 million km)

Sun’s diameter: ~865,000 miles (1.4 million km)

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