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On June 15 2020, ESA\u2019s new Sun-explorer Solar Orbiter reached its first perihelion, the point on its orbit closest to the Sun.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft got as close as 77 million kilometres to the star\u2019s surface during this perihelion, about half the distance between Earth and the star.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of the spacecraft\u2019s ten scientific instruments were on during the week around the closest approach, measuring properties of the surrounding environment, such as the magnetic field and the solar wind, but also taking close-up images of the Sun\u2019s surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No other spacecraft before had taken closer images of the Sun, even though NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, makes closer approaches. The spacecraft, however, doesn\u2019t carry instruments capable of looking directly at the Sun. Ground-based telescopes can obtain higher resolution images, but due to the effects of Earth\u2019s atmosphere cannot capture the entire solar spectrum.<\/p>\n
The first perihelion also marked the end of Solar Orbiter\u2019s commissioning phase and the beginning of the cruise phase, which will last until late 2021. During the science phase that follows, the spacecraft will get as close as 42 million kilometres to the Sun\u2019s surface, closer than the planet Mercury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The spacecraft\u2019s operators will then use the gravity of Venus to shift Solar orbiter\u2019s orbit out of the ecliptic plane, in which the planets of the Solar System orbit, to enable the telescopes to get the first ever proper views of the Sun\u2019s poles. Studying the activity in the polar regions will help the scientists to better understand the behaviour of the Sun\u2019s magnetic field, which drives the creation of the solar wind that in turn affects the environment of the entire Solar System.<\/p>\n