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ESA’s Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to study the sun’s polar zones

A new solar mission will help solve some of our star’s thorniest mysteries

illustration of ESA Solar Orbiter probe in front of the sun

ESA’s Solar Orbiter probe (illustrated) has begun a nearly two-year journey to gaze directly at the sun from an orbit that takes it closer to the sun than Mercury gets.

ESA/ATG medialab

By Christopher Crockett

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