China unveils first batch of images taken by solar probe ASO-S

China released the first batch of images captured by the country's first multipurpose solar probe at a news conference at the National Space Science Center in Beijing on Tuesday.

The Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) - nicknamed Kuafu-1 in Chinese, has been operating in orbit 720 kilometers from the Earth, facing the sun since its launch in October.

The images were captured by three different payloads on the probe – Full-disk MagnetoGraph (FMG), Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope (LST) and Hard X-ray Imager (HXI). It is reported that these three payloads have been in normal condition so far.

Kuafu-1 was launched aboard a Long March-2D rocket on Oct. 9 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.