Solar Orbiter Captures First Clear Views of Sun’s South Pole—and It’s a Hot Mess

Posted on June 11, 2025

This image shows Solar Orbiter's view of the Sun's south pole on 23 March 2025. It was taken by the spacecraft's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument, which captures the ultraviolet light sent out by the million-degree gas in the Sun's outer atmosphere (the corona).

A recent Venus flyby pushed the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbital plane, allowing it to gaze at the solar poles.