[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7199\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFive things we\u2019re going to learn from Europe\u2019s Solar Orbiter mission\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEquipped with instruments and cameras, the decade-long mission is set to provide scientists with key information in their ongoing solar research. We spoke to three solar physicists about what the mission might teach us and the five unanswered questions about the sun it might finally help us solve.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E When solar eruptions are heading our way\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESolar Orbiter will reach a minimum distance of 0.28% of the Earth-sun distance throughout the course of its mission, which could last the rest of the 2020s. No other mission will have come closer to the sun, save for NASA\u2019s ongoing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/content\/goddard\/parker-solar-probe-instruments\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EParker Solar Probe mission\u003C\/a\u003E, which will reach just 0.04 times the Earth-sun distance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Emilia Kilpua from the University of Helsinki in Finland is the coordinator of a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/695075\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESolMAG\u003C\/a\u003E, which is studying eruptions of plasma from the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). She says this proximity, and a suite of cameras that Parker Solar Probe lacks, will give Solar Orbiter the chance to gather data that is significantly better than any spacecraft before it, helping us monitor CMEs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One of the great things about Solar Orbiter is that it will cover a lot of different distances, so we can really capture these coronal mass ejections when they are evolving from the sun to Earth,\u2019 she said. CMEs can cause \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/article\/extreme-space-weather-can-wreak-havoc-earth-these-tools-help-warn-dangers-ahead.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Espace weather events on Earth\u003C\/a\u003E, interfering with our satellites, so this could give us a better early-warning system for when they are heading our way.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col start=\u00222\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E Why the sun blows a supersonic wind\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the major unanswered questions about the sun concerns its outer atmosphere, known as its corona. \u2018It\u2019s heated to (more than) a million degrees, and we currently don\u2019t know why it\u2019s so hot,\u2019 said Dr Alexis Rouillard from the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France, the coordinator of a project studying solar wind called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/819189\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESLOW_SOURCE\u003C\/a\u003E. \u2018It\u2019s (more than) 200 times the temperature of the surface of the sun.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA consequence of this \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/article\/sun-it-hot.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ehot corona\u003C\/a\u003E is that the sun\u2019s atmosphere cannot be contained by its gravity, so it has a constant wind of particles blowing out into space, known as solar wind. This wind blows at more than 250km per second, up to speeds of 800km per second, and we currently do not know how that wind is pushed outwards to supersonic speeds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Rouillard is hoping to study the slower solar wind using Solar Orbiter, which may help us explain how stars like the sun create supersonic winds. \u2018By getting closer to the sun we collect more (pristine) particles,\u2019 he said. \u2018Solar Orbiter will provide unprecedented measurements of the solar wind composition. (And) we will be able to develop models for how the wind (is pushed out) into space.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018One of the great things about Solar Orbiter is that it will cover a lot of different distances, so we can really capture these coronal mass ejections when they are evolving from the Sun to Earth.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Emilia Kilpua, University of Helsinki, Finland \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col start=\u00223\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E What its poles look like \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the course of its mission, Solar Orbiter will make repeated encounters with the planet Venus. Each time it does, the angle of the spacecraft\u2019s orbit will be slightly raised until it rises above the planets. If the mission is extended as hoped to 2030, it will reach an inclination of 33 degrees \u2013 giving us our first ever views of the sun\u2019s poles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAside from being fascinating, there will be some important science that can be done here. By measuring the sun\u2019s magnetic fields at the poles, scientists hope to get a better understanding of how and why the sun goes through 11-year cycles of activity, culminating in a flip of its magnetic poles. They are set to flip again in the mid-2020s.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018By understanding how the magnetic fields are distributed and evolve in these polar regions, we gain a new insight on the cycles that the sun is going through,\u2019 said Dr Rouillard. \u2018Every 11 years, the sun goes from a minimum activity state to a maximum activity state. By measuring from high latitudes, it will provide us with new insights on the cyclic evolution of (the sun\u2019s) magnetic fields.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col start=\u00224\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E Why it has polar \u2018crowns\u2019 \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOccasionally the sun erupts huge arm-like loops of material from its surface, which are known as prominences. They extend from its surface into the corona, but their formation is not quite understood. Solar Orbiter, however, will give us our most detailed look at them yet.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019re going to have very intricate views of some of these active regions and their associated prominences,\u2019 says Professor Rony Keppens from KU Leuven in Belgium, coordinator of a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/833251\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EPROMINENT\u003C\/a\u003E which is studying solar prominences. \u2018It\u2019s going to be possible to have more than several images per second. That means some of the dynamics that had not been seen before now are going to be visualised for the first time.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome of the sun\u2019s largest prominences come from near its poles, so by raising its inclination Solar Orbiter will give us a unique look at these phenomena. \u2018They\u2019re called polar crown prominences, because they are like crowns on the head of the sun,\u2019 said Prof. Keppens. \u2018They encircle the polar regions and they live for very long, weeks or months on end. The fact that Solar Orbiter is going to have first-hand views of the polar regions is going to be exciting, especially for studies of prominences.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col start=\u00225\u0022\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E How it controls the solar system\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy studying the sun with Solar Orbiter, scientists hope to better understand how its eruptions travel out into the solar system, creating a bubble of activity around the sun in our galaxy known as the heliosphere. This can of course create space weather here on Earth, so studying it is important for our own planet.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One of the ideas we have is to take measurements of the solar magnetic field in active regions in the equatorial belt of the sun,\u2019 said Professor Keppens. \u2018We\u2019re going to extrapolate that data into the corona, and then use simulations to try and mimic how some of these eruptions happen and progress out into the heliosphere.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThus, Solar Orbiter will not just give us a better understanding of the sun itself, but also how it affects planets like Earth too. Alongside the first-ever images of the poles and the closest-ever images of its surface, Solar Orbiter will give us an unprecedented understanding of how the star we call home really works.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article is\u0026nbsp;funded by the European Research Council. 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