Schematic of the Solar Polar-orbit Observatory. Credit: Zhenyong Hou and Jiasheng Wang at Peking University The Sun's polar regions remain one of the least explored areas in solar science. Space-based observatories and ground telescopes have given us extraordinary images of the Sun's surface, atmosphere, and magnetic fields, but nearly all of those observations come from within the ecliptic plane -- the narrow zone where Earth and most other planets orbit. This viewing angle limits what