Parker Solar Probe: The Origins of Switchbacks
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- Visualizations by:
- Tom Bridgman
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Stuart Bale
- View full credits
Most of the magnetic field measured at Parker during this time is directed sunward (blue field lines and vectors). A switchback occurs when the field changes direction almost 180 degrees for a short period of time. FIELDS instrument magnetic vector data are projected from the spacecraft position as arrows. The arrows are colored deep blue for sunward vectors, deep red for anti-sunward, and in between for directions off from this line. The heliospheric magnetic field lines are represented as gold.
For a number of years, solar scientists have known about a phenomenon they called 'switchbacks'. Switchbacks are short-term 'flips' in the polarity of the magnetic field in the outflowing solar wind. Parker Solar Probe has detected these 'switchbacks' (Switchbacks Science: Explaining Parker Solar Probe’s Magnetic Puzzle), which appear to be more plentiful closer to the Sun.
In the visualization above, Parker is passing through a region of inward bound magnetic flux (blue lines). This surrounding field is computed from a running average of the measurements by Parker, which are computing from the individual measurements at Parker's position (arrows projecting from the spacecraft position). For a brief time, these vectors flip direction, in this particular case changing color from blue to white and red, from the surrounding field, which is the signature of a switchback.
Closer to the Sun, the average field lines trace back to coronal structures called pseudostreamers, that are magnetic structures which overlay and connect multiple pole magnetic regions. These regions also appear to correlate with where magnetic flux emerges between supergranule convection cells.
Most of the magnetic field measured at Parker during this time is directed sunward (blue field lines and vectors). A switchback occurs when the field changes direction almost 180 degrees for a short period of time. FIELDS instrument magnetic vector data are projected from the spacecraft position as arrows. The arrows are colored deep blue for sunward vectors, deep red for anti-sunward, and in between for directions off from this line. The heliospheric magnetic field lines are represented as gold.
A top-down view from the ecliptic pole of the orbit of Parker Solar Probe for Encounter 6. FIELDS instrument magnetic vector data are projected from the spacecraft position with arrows. The arrows are colored deep blue for sunward vectors, deep red for anti-sunward, and in between for directions off from this line. The heliospheric magnetic field lines are the gold lines, representing the propagation of the average field measured at Parker, propagated back to the solar photosphere.
View of FIELDS instrument magnetic data measured at Parker Solar Probe during encounter 6. FIELDS instrument magnetic vector data are projected from the spacecraft position as arrows. The arrows are colored deep blue for sunward vectors, deep red for anti-sunward, and in between for directions off from this line. The heliospheric magnetic field lines are the gold lines, representing the propagation of the average field measured at Parker, propagated back to the solar photosphere.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
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Writer
- Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems)
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Scientists
- Stuart Bale (University of California, Berkeley) [Lead]
- Samuel Badman (University of California at Berkeley)
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Producer
- Joy Ng (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Technical support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Datasets used in this visualization
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SPICE Ephemerides (SPICE Ephemerides)
ID: 755Satellite and planetary ephemerides
See all pages that use this dataset -
Parker Solar Probe FIELDS
ID: 1132Measurements of electric and magnetic fields and waves.
This dataset can be found at: https://fields.ssl.berkeley.edu/
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
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Read moreOn recent solar encounters, Parker Solar Probe collected data pinpointing the origin of zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks. The data showed one spot switchbacks originate is at the visible surface of the Sun – the photosphere. By the time it reaches Earth, 93 million miles away, the solar wind is an unrelenting headwind of particles and magnetic fields. But as it escapes the Sun, the solar wind is structured and patchy. In the mid-1990s, the NASA-European Space Agency mission Ulysses flew over the Sun’s poles and discovered a handful of bizarre S-shaped kinks in the solar wind’s magnetic field lines, which detoured charged particles on a zig-zag path as they escaped the Sun. For decades, scientists thought these occasional switchbacks were oddities confined to the Sun’s polar regions. In 2019, at 34 solar radii from the Sun, Parker Solar Probe discovered that switchbacks were not rare, but common in the solar wind. This renewed interest in the features raised new questions: Where are they coming from and how do they form and evolve? Were they forged at the surface of the Sun, or shaped by some process kinking magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere? The new findings, in press at the Astrophysical Journal, finally confirm one origin point near the solar surface. More information here. ||
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