Jan 14 2008
From The Space Library
European Space Agency (ESA) scientists announced that the Ulysses spacecraft had made its fourth pass over one of the Sun’s poles. Ulysses, engaged in an 18-year, ongoing joint mission operated by NASA and ESA, had completed an orbit of the Sun every 6.2 years. As it passed over the Sun’s poles, Ulysses occupied a unique position enabling the craft to sample solar winds, a vantage point unavailable to any other spacecraft or Earth-based observatory. This most recent flyby of the Sun’s north pole had occurred a week after scientists had observed the beginning of a new solar cycle. “This is a wonderful opportunity to examine the Sun’s north pole within a transition of cycles,” said Arik Posner, a NASA scientist for the Ulysses program.
European Space Agency (ESA), “Ulysses at the North Pole,” news release, 15 February 2008, http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMLLN3MDAF_index_0.html (accessed 17 December 2010); Houston Chronicle, “Ulysses Flies over Sun’s North Pole,” 15 January 2008.
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