Ulysses: a summary of the first high-latitude survey

Abstract

The unique in-situ observations acquired by the scientific instrumentation on board the Ulysses spacecraft have provided, for the first time, a comprehensive, 3-dimensional view of the heliosphere from the solar equator to the poles near solar minimum. Since beginning its journey out of the ecliptic plane in February, 1992, Ulysses has acquired a wealth of truly new observations concerning the particles and fields in the previously unreachable high-latitude regions of the heliosphere. This paper discusses the status of the mission, and presents a summary of some of the most recent results.