Visualizations by
Tom Bridgman
Released on December 14, 2021
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.