British-built Solar Orbiter

A satellite built in Britain is in the process of taking the closest ever image of the sun. ESA’s Solar Orbiter is circling our star and today came within 47 million miles of its surface, around half the distance between the Sun and Earth. It has equipment on-board specifically designed to take images and measurements of the Sun, experts say, but the ground-breaking image will not be ready until July. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, which is also studying the Sun, launched in 2018 and edges even closer to the fiery ball at the centre of the Solar System.