Europe and NASA's Solar Orbiter rockets into space on an unprecedented mission to capture first pictures of the Sun's elusive poles
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft, built for NASA and the European Space Agency, lifts off from pad 41 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U., February 9, 2020.
While Solar Orbiter won't venture close enough to penetrate the sun's corona, or crown-like outer atmosphere, like Parker, it will maneuver into a unique out-of-plane orbit that will take it over both poles, never photographed before. The rocket was visible for four full minutes after liftoff, a brilliant star piercing the night sky.
Parker Solar Probe, by contrast, has already passed within 18.6 million kilometers of the sun, an all-time record, and is shooting for a slim gap of 6 million kilometers by 2025. But it's flying nowhere near the poles. That's where Solar Orbiter will shine.
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