News Planetary Science

Solar craft reaches a new low

By Ron Cowen

- More than 2 years ago

The venerable Ulysses spacecraft has gone south.

POLAR EXPLORER. The Ulysses craft passes over the sun’s south pole, in this artist’s depiction, and broadcasts data to Earth. ESA, NASA

That’s just what solar scientists had been counting on. Earlier this month, the craft passed directly below the sun, looking at the south pole from a distance of 329 million kilometers.