- Who
- European Space Agency Solar Orbiter probe
- What
- 77,000,000 kilometre(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom ()
- When
- 2020
The closest photograph taken of the Sun is roughly 77,000,000 km (48,000,000 miles), achieved by the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter (SolO) probe, in 2020.
Solar Orbiter was launched on 10 February 2020 and carries six remote-sensing instruments that image the Sun and its surroundings.
The images revealed new phenomena, including omnipresent miniature solar flares dubbed ‘campfires’ by scientists.
Although other spacecraft has travelled closer to the Sun, none have carried Sun-facing imagers.
