The
primary mission of the Ulysses spacecraft was to characterize
the heliosphere as a function of solar latitude. The heliosphere
is the vast region of interplanetary space occupied by the
Sun's atmosphere and dominated by the outflow of the solar
wind. The periods of primary scientific interest is when
Ulysses was at or higher than 70 degrees latitude at both
the Sun's south and north poles. On 26 June 1994, Ulysses
reached 70 degrees south. There it began a four-month observation
from high latitudes of the complex forces at work in the
Sun's outer atmosphere-the corona.
Scientists
have long studied the Sun from Earth using Earth-based sensors.
More recently, solar studies have been conducted from spaceborne
platforms; however, these investigations have been mostly
from the ecliptic plane (the plane in which most of the
planets travel around the Sun) and no previous spacecraft
have reached solar latitudes higher than 32 degrees. Now
that Ulysses high latitude data is available, scientists
from the joint NASA and ESA mission are obtaining new and
better understanding of the processes going on at high solar
latitudes.