About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Highlights
Latest
Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Czechia
Romania
United Kingdom
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicAstronauts
Latest
Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicLatest
Soho observes flow of solar surface material
This image is a graphical representation of the surface flow from the equator to the poles of the Sun. The flow lines overlay an image of the rotation speed at the Sun's surface, taken using the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Soho) spacecraft over a period of 12 months ending in June 1997. The false colours represent speed; red material is rotating faster than the blue. As this material rotates, it is also flowing toward the poles at a relatively slow velocity of about 80 km/h. The lines represent how this motion would appear if you could stand on the surface of the Sun about 30° from the equator, and move with the same speed as the material there. If you were at this position in the northern hemisphere, material closer to the equator would appear to move to the right of the image as it flowed north, because it is rotating faster. Material closer to the north pole would appear to move to the left as it flowed north, because it is rotating slower. The cutaway represents the observed polar flow 25,000 km beneath the surface and a hypothetical, slower moving return flow from the poles to the equator, estimated to be 200,000 km beneath the surface. [Image Date: 01-06-97] [97.09.006-002]
