Its light blinds any who look at it, while its heat scorches craft that venture too close.<\/p>\n
Despite this, specialised observatories have allowed solar astronomers to look on from afar over the years.<\/p>\n
But there are two telescopes currently giving astronomers an up-close view of the Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n On 26 March 2022 the European Space Agency\u2019s Solar Orbiter<\/a> probe sailed past the Sun on its closest approach yet, coming within a third of the Earth-Sun distance to our star.<\/p>\n And in 2021 its observing cousin, NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe<\/a>, passed so near to the Sun that it flew through the outer layers of its atmosphere, sniffing out the pristine particles near the solar surface.<\/p>\n But despite the pair being closer to the Sun than any other mission, they are looking at the star in two very different ways.<\/p>\n How do Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe compare? What are their major differences?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSolar Orbiter is a mission to explore the Sun and the surrounding heliosphere \u2013 the big plasma bubble that the solar wind blows into the interstellar medium,\u201d says Daniel M\u00fcller, project scientist for Solar Orbiter at the European Space Agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe driving rationale for Solar Orbiter is to establish the connections between what our home star does in terms of activity and how that manifests itself in the surrounding heliosphere, including the near-Earth environment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe combine measurements of the plasma at the location of the spacecraft with images of the Sun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Solar Orbiter launched on 10 February 2020 and since then has been looping around our star.<\/p>\n It spends much of its orbit at a distance to protect itself from the searing heat, only swooping in every 5 to 6 months for a close pass known as perihelion.<\/p>\n Using flybys of Earth and Venus to pull its orbit close to the Sun, it now passes just 48.3 million km from our star.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Solar Orbiter has 10 scientific instruments, four of which look directly at the Sun.<\/p>\n On 7 March 2022, while at a distance of 75 million km, the spacecraft used them to take the closest ever image of the Sun.<\/p>\n It was so close the camera couldn\u2019t fit the whole solar disc in frame, and instead had to take a mosaic of 25 images.<\/span> In doing so it created a shot 10 times larger than what can be displayed on a 4K TV screen.<\/p>\n The other 6 instruments are in-situ experiments, measuring the environment in Solar Orbiter\u2019s location.<\/p>\n One particular area the mission is paying attention to is the solar wind, sniffing out the gusts of charged particles as they stream out of the Sun.<\/p>\n \u201cThe solar wind is largely hydrogen and helium, but there\u2019s a sprinkling of other elements, and it\u2019s those that help us make the connection between the solar wind and where it came from,\u201d says M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n \u201cWe identify where ions like oxygen and iron are on the Sun, then sniff them in the solar wind. We combine the measurements with the pictures and connect the two, linking what is flying past the spacecraft with what erupted on the Sun a day or two earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the spacecraft\u2019s mission, and the time when it will be close to the Sun, are planned well in advance, during those passes it will adjust its focus to whichever area of the Sun is currently active.<\/p>\n \u201cIn March, we had interesting periods where there were major flares,\u201d says M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question was, can we point to where the flares just were, as there is a high likelihood that it will flare again. Hopefully the Sun will collaborate.\u201d<\/p>\n It will be a while until we find out if the Sun was working with the Solar Orbiter team, however, as the flyby generated so much data it only finished downloading in May 2022 and is still being processed.<\/p>\n The spacecraft will continue looping around the Sun, using further encounters with Venus<\/a> to shift its orbit so that it eventually gets to within 0.28 AU (about 42 million km) of the Sun\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t be resting there for long though, as the spacecraft will then enter into a new science phase as it tips its orbit out of the ecliptic<\/a>, allowing it to get a clearer view of the Sun\u2019s poles \u2013 something no other spacecraft has ever attained before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first polar pass is due on March 2025, at an angle of 17\u00ba to the ecliptic, but by July 2029 it should be at 33\u00ba.<\/p>\n The hope is that this unique view of the Sun will give a greater insight into the solar cycle<\/a>, the repeating pattern of activity in which the number of sunspots peaks and then lulls, only to peak once more 11 years after the last maximum.<\/p>\n Though the pattern has been recorded for over 400 years, no one knows its cause.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not clear why it has this periodicity of 11 years \u2013 other stars have different periods,\u201d says M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are various theories, but we can only validate them by getting data from the polar regions \u2013 you need a study from high over the poles to see how the magnetic field<\/a> changes and gets transported. That\u2019s the next big milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2020\/07\/Solar-Orbiter-Magnetic-d4701d5.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C619"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Solar Orbiter vs Parker Solar Probe<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Parker Solar Probe<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Solar Orbiter<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Solar Orbiter<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Solar orbiter\u2019s views of the Sun\u2019s poles<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Parker Solar Probe<\/strong><\/h2>\n