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Since 2025,\u00a0Solar Orbiter is the first Sun-watching spacecraft to ever get a clear look at the Sun’s poles. It discovered that at the south pole, the Sun\u2019s magnetic field is currently a mess.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This image shows a magnetic field map from Solar Orbiter’s Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument, centred on the Sun’s south pole. Blue indicates positive magnetic field, pointing towards the spacecraft, and red indicates negative magnetic field.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are clear blue and red patches visible right up to the Sun’s south pole, indicating that there are different magnetic polarities present (north and south). This happens only for a short time during each solar cycle, at solar maximum, when the Sun\u2019s magnetic field flips and is at its most active. After the field flip, a single magnetic polarity should slowly build up and take over the Sun\u2019s poles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Solar Orbiter will be watching the Sun throughout its calming-down phase. In 5\u20136 years from now, the Sun will reach its next solar minimum, during which its magnetic field is at its most orderly and the Sun has the lowest levels of activity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Solar Orbiter’s Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument is led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), Germany.\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Image description:\u00a0<\/i>This image shows a magnetic map of the Sun’s south pole filled with small red and blue dots scattered across a pale-yellow background. The red and blue colours represent opposite magnetic polarities on the Sun. A set of lines \u2013 indicating solar longitude \u2013 radiate outward from Sun’s south pole near the centre of the image, like spokes on a wheel, dividing the circle into sections.]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n