Solar Orbiter Just Got Hit by a Gigantic Outburst From the Sun
Artist’s depiction of Solar Orbiter.Illustration: ESA/ATG medialabSolar Orbiter has been traveling through space for more than two years, making several close flybys of Venus as it steadily inches closer to the Sun. On September 4, the small spacecraft was in the midst of its most recent gravitational assist when it felt the violent wrath of our host star.The Sun fired off a gigantic coronal mass ejection on August 30, reaching the spacecraft just a few days later. Thankfully, Solar Orbiter is built to withstand these…