This figure was made by Geza Erdos of the KFKI in Budapest. It shows the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field as Ulysses traveled from the south pole to the north pole.
Click on image for full size
Imperial College
The Sun's Magnetic Field Polarity
Ulysses is a spacecraft that is traveling around the Sun. Ulysses is orbiting around the top and bottom of the Sun. No other spacecraft has ever done this...so Ulysses gets to measure things no other spacecraft ever has!
One thing Ulysses has been measuring is the Sun's magnetic field. It's like the Sun has a big magnet inside of it and Ulysses is measuring how strong that magnet is. This picture shows which direction the magnetic field of the Sun is pointing. Where it's blue, the magnetic field points in toward the Sun and where it's red it's pointed away.
The magnetic field of the Sun is very complicated, so don't worry if you don't understand everything. Even scientists are still trying to figure things out!
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