Solar Orbiter launched

[krakatoa1883]

The ESA-lead Solar Orbiter mission is on its way to the Sun. There are many videos on the internet about mission's scope and instrumentation, on BBC website there is this short but very informative one:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51420402

[Montana]

Well at least it made it off the ground, that is the first bonus

Alexandra

[DeepSolar64]

I watched it launch just after 11pm EDT. I was actually quite nervous watching it. Setting something or someone atop all of that fuel and lighting one end of it has always had risks and probably always will. It was nice to see all go well though and I look forward to the data it sends back. I know many of us here use the SDO data as a reference and the ground based GONG data as well. It is great that the professional community makes this data available to the public for all of us to use. It’s as if we “ own “ a little of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. That’s pretty cool I think. Now to await data from Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter as well.

[MapleRidge]

It is great to have another solar research project make into space. The Parker Solar Probe has been the primary news item and I wasn't aware of this begin on the drawing board.

Brian