Expect the Unexpected: Solar Orbiter to Pass Through the Tails of Comet ATLAS

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Expect the Unexpected: Solar Orbiter to Pass Through the Tails of Comet ATLAS:

ESA's Solar Orbiter will cross through the tails of Comet ATLAS during the next few days. Although the recently launched spacecraft was not due to be taking science data at this time, mission experts have worked to ensure that the four most relevant instruments will be switched on during the unique encounter.

Solar Orbiter was launched on February 10, 2020. Since then, and with the exception of a brief shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and engineers have been conducting a series of tests and set-up routines known as commissioning.

The completion date for this phase was set at June 15, so that the spacecraft could be fully functional for its first close pass of the Sun, or perihelion, in mid-June. However, the discovery of the chance encounter with the comet made things more urgent.

Serendipitously flying through a comet's tail is a rare event for a space mission, something scientists know to have happened only six times before for missions that were not specifically chasing comets. All such encounters have been discovered in the spacecraft data after the event. Solar Orbiter's upcoming crossing is the first to be predicted in advance.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.