On March 26, ESA’s Solar Orbiter made its closest approach to the Sun and reached an external temperature of about 500 degrees Celsius or 900 degrees Fahrenheit. This spacecraft has the ultimate in heat-shielding technology that allows the mission to survive to do science; science that includes flying over the Sun’s north and south poles. Solar Orbiter has also captured our highest-resolution image of the Sun’s South Pole.

These images are super exciting, but the roughly eight weeks since the encounter hasn’t been enough time for researchers to learn what solar science is revealed in this new data. For that, we’re just going to have to wait.

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ESA press release