SPICE_CIII-977_doppler_withlabel (IMAGE)
Caption
SPICE sees the Sun's south pole
The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument on the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft got its first good look at the Sun's south pole in March 2025.
With this doppler map and the associated intensity map, we compare two of SPICE's views of the Sun's south pole, both based on measurements of the light sent out by charged particles (ions) of carbon at a temperature of 32 000 °C. These ions live in the transition region, a thin layer around the Sun where the temperature rapidly increases from around 10 000 °C to hundreds of thousands of degrees.
This velocity map uses blue and red to indicate how fast the carbon ions are moving towards and away from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, respectively. Darker blue and red patches are related to plasma flowing faster due to small plumes or jets.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a European-led facility instrument, led by the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) in Paris, France.
Credit
ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/SPICE Team, M. Janvier (ESA) & J. Plowman (SwRI)
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License
CC BY-SA