Solar Orbiter captures closest ever images of the Sun in stunning new footage

Solar Orbiter has returned spectacular imagery of the Sun during its first close encounter with our home star.

Detailed new footage taken from within the orbit of planet Mercury shows a curious solar ‘hedgehog’, which stretches 25,000 kilometres across the Sun and has a multitude of spikes of hot and colder gas that reach out in all directions.

Solar Orbiter’s mission will allow scientists to better understand space weather forecasting from Earth.

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