Ulysses probe
Ulysses is an unmanned probe designed to study the Sun at all latitudes. The spacecraft, named for the Latin translation of Odysseus, was launched in October 1990 from the Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-41) as a joint venture of NASA and the European Space Agency.
The spacecraft first flew to Jupiter for a swing-by maneuver which brought it out of the ecliptic plane, in order to investigate the polar regions of the Sun. In 1994-5 and again in 2000-1 it explored both the northern and southern solar polar regions, which gave many unexpected results. In particular the southern magnetic pole was found to be much more dynamical and without any fixed clear location. It is, of course, wrong to say "The sun has no magnetic south pole" - the sun is not a magnetic monopole - the pole is merely more diffusely located than the north pole.
Ulysses' mission has been extended until at least 2004 when it will be making observations of Jupiter.
