SolO probe ready to acquire sharpest ever pictures
The European spacecraft that will take the closest ever pictures of the Sun is built and ready for launch. The Solar Orbiter, or SolO, probe will put itself inside the orbit of Planet Mercury to train its telescopes on the surface of our star. It carries also a number of instruments to sense the constant emission of particles and embedded magnetic fields. Scientists hope the detailed observations will help them understand better what drives the Sun's activity. Holly Gilbert is the Nasa deputy project scientist on the mission. She spoke with our science correspondent Jonathan Amos.