9 Strangest Things Floating Around In Our Solar System
8. The Suns Poles
As objects in the solar system go, the sun is the real MVP. Usually, objects in our solar system orbit the sun on a roughly equatorial plane, but when the Ulysses space probe was launched back in 1990, it took a wildly different path. Using Jupiter's gravity to slingshot it, Ulysses was flung out of the usual orbital plane in order to pass over the top of the sun's poles. Nothing in the solar system will have seen the sun from this angle before, so it provided a unique perspective on our gracious, fiery host. During its many observations, Ulysses turned up an unexpected result: The sun's south pole appears to be significantly cooler than its north pole, by about 80,000 kelvin (79726.85 celsius). Scientists are scratching their heads over this one. It doesn't appear to be anything to do with the sun's magnetic polarity, as this switches every 11 years or so, and Ulysses was keeping an eye out for 17. The usual reason why a celestial body would have differing temperatures would be related to its exposure to the sun but, well, this is the sun. It could be some time before we crack this one, as Ulysses officially bit the dust in 2009, ceasing almost all communications with Earth.
