EUROPE'S SOLAR heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has returned spectacular images of the Sun from its unique vantage point in solar orbit, 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, where the gravitational pull of the Earth and the Sun are equal. The Matra Marconi Space-built SOHO was launched in December 1995, and the picture from the craft's US-developed Michelson Doppler imager instrument shows the motion in the solar photosphere - the visible surface of the Sun - featuring a supergranulation pattern. The data will allow a detailed study of the convective motions on the comparatively small star.
Source: Flight International