UK-built satellite takes closest image of the Sun

A UK-BUILT satellite observing the Sun has made its nearest approach yet, allowing it to take the closest image of our star ever captured.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter came within 47m miles of its surface on Monday, about half the distance between the Sun and Earth.

While Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, is able to go further, it does not carry telescopes capable of looking directly at the glowing orb.

In the week after this first perihelion – the point in the orbit closest to the Sun – the mission scientists will test the spacecraft’s 10 science instruments, including the six telescopes on-board. Working together, these telescopes should be able to snap the closest photo of the Sun ever – though we will not get to see it until mid-July.

“We have never taken pictures of the Sun from a closer distance than this,” said Daniel Muller, ESA’s Solar Orbiter project scientist.

“There have been higher resolution close-ups, e.g. taken by the four-metre Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii earlier this year.

“But from Earth, with the atmosphere between the telescope and the Sun, you can only see a small part of the solar spectrum that you can see from space.”

The test is being carried out to prove that Solar Orbiter’s telescopes are up and ready for future scientific observations.

Other instruments will also provide an insight into the environment around the spacecraft, such as the magnetic field which could yield “new and exciting results”.