This is the sling shot approach to getting a spacecraft into orbit. The Sun acts like it has a big magnet in the middle of it. We call this the Sun's magnetic field. Ulysses is tracking the Sun's magnetic field with an instrument called a magnetometer. It tells how strong the magnetic field is at different times and at different places around the Sun.
Scientists are very excited about the data the magnetometer has collected.
They are all looking forward to more new data. FGM Instrument Page Ulysses has a unique orbit . From this new type of orbit, Ulysses can track parts of the Sun's magnetic field that have never been tracked. The magnetometer was included on the Ulysses spacecraft to track the Sun's magnetic field. It uses two different sensors to tell how strong the magnetic field is at different times and at different places around the Sun.