Speaker
Description
First Name: Alessandra
Last Name: Giunta
Affiliation: University of Catania
All Authors: Alessandra Giunta, Timothy Grundy, Sunil Sidher, Andrzej Fludra, Sarah Leeks, Steve Guest
Abstract: In Spring and Autumn 2025 Solar Orbiter observed the poles of the Sun from an out-of-ecliptic position, centred at heliographic latitudes of about 17 degrees, using its full suite of remote-sensing instruments. This allowed the SPICE instrument to record the first ever EUV spectral images of the Sun’s surface at the poles. SPICE made direct spectroheliograms of the North and South polar regions at selected wavelengths. This enables the analysis of the physical state of the emitting plasma from the different layers of the solar atmosphere, using a core set of emission lines, covering temperatures of 20 000 K to 0.6 MK, and arising from ions of elements such as H, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, S and Fe. Additional global campaigns, known as full disk mosaics, were carried out from similar latitudes, allowing SPICE to record spectra from the whole Sun in under 12 hours. In synergy with other Solar Orbiter instruments, specifically EUI, PHI and Metis, such observations give a full coverage of the emission from the solar surface up to the heliosphere from a different perspective. This work provides an overview of these novel observations, focussing on the study of the intensity maps made with isolated transition region and coronal lines, to investigate the plasma properties at the poles. A preliminary analysis of the behaviour of the solar composition in the polar surroundings is also presented.