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In understanding switchbacks, solar physicists may also be taking a step toward understanding the details of how the solar wind is accelerated and heated away from the Sun. This is because when spacecraft fly through switchbacks, they often register a localised acceleration of the solar wind.
“The next step is to try to statistically link switchbacks observed in situ with their source regions on the Sun,” says Daniele. In other words, to have a spacecraft fly through the magnetic reversal and be able to see what’s happened on the solar surface. This is exactly the kind of linkage science that Solar Orbiter was designed to do, but it does not necessarily mean that Solar Orbiter needs to fly through the switchback. It could be another spacecraft, such as Parker Solar Probe. As long as the in-situ data and remote sensing data is concurrent, Daniele can perform the correlation.
“This is exactly the kind of result we were hoping for with Solar Orbiter,” says Daniel Müller, ESA Project Scientist for Solar Orbiter. “With every orbit, we obtain more data from our suite of ten instruments. Based on results like this one, we will fine-tune the observations planned for Solar Orbiter's next solar encounter to understand the way in which the Sun connects to the wider magnetic environment of the Solar System. This was Solar Orbiter’s very first close pass to the Sun, so we expect many more exciting results to come.”
Solar Orbiter’s next close pass of the Sun – again within the orbit of Mercury at a distance of 0.29 times the Earth-Sun distance – will take place on 13 October. Earlier this month, on 4 September, Solar Orbiter made a gravity assist flyby at Venus to adjust its orbit around the Sun; subsequent Venus flybys will start raising the inclination of the spacecraft’s orbit to access higher latitude – more polar – regions of the Sun.