Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

Ulysses at Sun's Pole

Target Name:  Sun
Spacecraft:  Ulysses
Produced by:  NASA
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Date Released: October 26, 1995

Related Document
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
ulysses2.gifGIF682 x 512100K
ulysses2.tifTIFF682 x 5121023K

Scientists on the Ulysses mission -- the first spacecraft to explore the third dimension of space over the poles of the Sun -- found some surprising new discoveries about the polar regions of the Sun when the spacecraft passed over the regions in 1994 and 1995. Among them, the spacecraft revealed two clearly separate and distinct solar wind regimes with fast wind emerging from the solar poles. Scientists were surprised by observations of how cosmic rays make their way into the solar system from galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The magnetic field of the Sun over its poles turned out to be very different from previous expectations using ground-based observations. In addition, Ulysses found a beam of particles from interstellar space that was penetrating the solar system at a velocity of close to 50,000 miles per hour. On September 29, 1995, Ulysses completed its first solar orbit and began its voyage back out to the orbit of Jupiter, where it will loop around and return to the vicinity of the Sun in September 2000. At that time the Sun will be in a very active phase of its 11-year solar cycle and Ulysses will find itself battling through the atmosphere of a star that is no longer docile.

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.