The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Watching the side of the Sun that’s facing away from Earth, Solar Orbiter witnessed the hyperactive sunspot cluster AR3664 produce the biggest flare yet of the current solar cycle. This was immediately followed by a burst of energetic particles moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light and a large amount of solar material blasting out in a so-called coronal mass ejection.
AR3664 is the bright lit-up region visible to the lower right of the centre of the solar disc. This GIF consists of observations which were taken on 21 May 2024 by Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager at two different wavelengths: 17.4 nanometres (shown in yellow) and 30.4 nanometres (shown in red).