[Boudica]

The above is an actual photograph, not an artists rendition. It's pretty cool, although, it does show how accurate artists renditions have been thus far!

Code:

The image was taken earlier this month by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter satellite, which was launched back in February 2020.

The probe is currently on a three year mission to get to the sun, a task far too difficult and dangerous for human astronauts.

Once it gets there, it's hoped the Solar Orbiter will give us the first ever views of the top and bottom of the Sun, as well as help us to understand the connections between the Sun and Earth.

The images were taken when the Solar Orbiter was at a distance of around 75 million kilometres from the Sun - half way between Earth and the star.

Read more here.

[04012022]

Damn, that's cool as hell. Pretty hyped about that second-last sentence of the quote. Never thought about how we've never seen that

[Boudica]

Damn, that's cool as hell. Pretty hyped about that second-last sentence of the quote. Never thought about how we've never seen that

Me neither. We've gotten very used to the images from our telescopes. It's odd to this this is the closest real photo ever. And that's only half way.

[G3NGST3R]

Wow, thats amazing.
I really find it interesting and cool about our proggesion as humans!

[mothered]

It's absolutely fascinating.

And that's at 75 million kilometres away. Can you Imagine what It'd be like at half the distance?

[Boudica]

It's absolutely fascinating.

And that's at 75 million kilometres away. Can you Imagine what It'd be like at half the distance?

I don't recall if the article mentioned specifically how close they're intending to get. I did read that it can go up to 5x hotter than the boiling point of water, but I'm not sure how that translates to distance from the sun.

[mothered]

I don't recall if the article mentioned specifically how close they're intending to get. I did read that it can go up to 5x hotter than the boiling point of water, but I'm not sure how that translates to distance from the sun.

Does the comment below mean the probe will make Its way to the sun Itself? Due to the extreme heat, wouldn't It disintegrate?

The probe is currently on a three year mission to get to the sun

[Boudica]

I don't recall if the article mentioned specifically how close they're intending to get. I did read that it can go up to 5x hotter than the boiling point of water, but I'm not sure how that translates to distance from the sun.

Does the comment below mean the probe will make Its way to the sun Itself? Due to the extreme heat, wouldn't It disintegrate?

The probe is currently on a three year mission to get to the sun

That's what I'm unsure about. I don't know how close or not it's intended to go. However, when NASA etc send these things out into space, they rarely if ever plan for them to return to Earth.

I wonder how many probs and pieces of tech like this are floating in the dead of space somewhere far away.

[Vandal]

looks like a bowling ball no cap

[Boudica]

looks like a bowling ball no cap

I now can't unsee this.