In a breakthrough for solar science, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured the first images ever taken of the Sun’s elusive poles — a development that promises to deepen humanity’s understanding of the star that powers life on Earth.

The images, released by the European Space Agency (ESA), show the Sun’s southern pole in striking detail, captured from a distance of 65 million kilometers (40 million miles). These views mark a historic shift in space observation, as scientists have until now only seen the Sun from its equatorial angle — the same flat plane where Earth and most planets orbit.

The Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between ESA and NASA, was launched in 2020 from Florida and is equipped with high-tech instruments capable of peering at the Sun in ways never before possible. Using a clever gravity-assisted maneuver around Venus earlier this year, the spacecraft tilted itself 17 degrees below the Sun’s equator — enough to glimpse the southern polar region. Images of the Sun’s north pole are still on their way to Earth.

“This is just the beginning,” said Dr. Sami Solanki, lead scientist for one of the Orbiter’s key instruments, based at Germany’s Max Planck Institute. “The spacecraft has now observed both poles. What we’re seeing already is unlike anything before.”

The mission is designed to help scientists understand the Sun’s powerful magnetic field, its 11-year activity cycle, and the solar wind — a stream of charged particles that flows across the solar system, sometimes disrupting satellites, radio communication, and power systems on Earth.

At the heart of the mission lies a central question: what’s really happening at the Sun’s poles, and how does it influence solar activity?

“The poles are crucial to the Sun’s behavior, yet they’ve remained mostly hidden,” explained Dr. Hamish Reid of University College London, a co-investigator on the project. “Right now, during peak solar activity, the magnetic field is chaotic — and these new images help us make sense of that chaos.”

While Earth has clearly defined poles, the Sun’s polar magnetic fields flip every 11 years — and the current images suggest this reversal is underway. Both north and south polarities are being detected at the southern pole, a hallmark of this solar maximum.

The Sun’s behavior affects daily life more than many realize. When solar storms erupt, they can knock out GPS systems, disrupt flights, and even damage power grids. But they also create stunning auroras — a natural light show frequently visible in the polar skies.

“The better we understand the Sun’s poles, the better we can predict when and where solar events will occur — and protect critical infrastructure here on Earth,” said Dr. Reid.

The data also helps scientists track the expansion of the heliosphere — a vast protective bubble created by the solar wind that shields Earth and other planets from harmful cosmic rays.

Solar Orbiter’s path will continue to tilt further out of the Sun’s equatorial plane, reaching viewing angles above 30 degrees in the coming years — offering even clearer views of both poles.

Though the Ulysses mission in the 1990s flew over the Sun’s poles, it lacked imaging equipment. “Ulysses could feel the solar wind, but it couldn’t see the Sun,” Solanki explained. “Solar Orbiter is giving us vision — and that makes all the difference.”

The Sun sits about 93 million miles (149 million km) from Earth — close enough to warm our planet, but far enough that we’ve barely scratched the surface of understanding it. Thanks to missions like Solar Orbiter, that’s finally beginning to change.

By Wafricnews Desk.