Seeing both sides of the Sun at once | Europe's Proba-2 & Solar Orbiter Missions

Seeing both sides of the Sun at once | Europe's Proba-2 & Solar Orbiter Missions

This video shows the Sun as seen from Earth orbit by the European Space Agency’s Proba-2 mission on the left, and as seen from the opposite side of the Sun by the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter mission on the right. The two spacecraft carry an almost-identical imager instrument that takes photos of the Sun in ultraviolet light. The images shown here were measured by Proba-2’s SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing) imager and Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument at a wavelength of 17.4 nanometers.

By watching the side of the Sun facing away from Earth, Solar Orbiter has allowed us to track the monster active region AR3664 as it rotates in and out of Earth’s view. AR3664 was very active in May 2024, producing many powerful solar flares and sending out highly energetic particles and large amounts of material in so-called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). It was responsible for the beautiful aurorae seen on Earth on May 10–12, and on May 20 Solar Orbiter saw it produce the largest solar flare of the current solar cycle (class X12). 

“Solar Orbiter’s position, in combination with other missions watching the Sun from Earth’s side, gives us a 360-degree view of the Sun for an extended period of time. This will only happen three more times in the future of Solar Orbiter, so we are in a unique situation to observe active regions on the far side that will then rotate into Earth’s view,” explains Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter Project Scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA).

The European Space Agency's sun-watching spacecraft monitors the Sun's behavior to better understand the influence of space weather on our home planet. The ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission, in partnership with NASA, is orbiting the Sun from closer than ever before and is providing the first high resolution images of the Sun's poles.

Learn more here: 

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/Can_t_stop_won_t_stop_Solar_Orbiter_shows_the_Sun_raging_on

Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI

Acknowledgement: D. Berghmans

Duration: 26 seconds

Release Date: June 18, 2024

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