AWhat changed
During its first 2018 solar encounter, Parker Solar Probe measured slow solar wind with rapid, large magnetic-field reversals, velocity enhancements and plasma waves. Bale and colleagues compared the in-situ measurements with coronal field models and extreme-ultraviolet maps, associating the sampled stream with a small equatorial coronal hole. Their measurements reveal a highly structured near-Sun wind and motivate further study of its acceleration and heating.
Scientific scope
During its first 2018 solar encounter, Parker Solar Probe measured slow solar wind with rapid, large magnetic-field reversals, velocity enhancements and plasma waves. Bale and colleagues compared the in-situ measurements with coronal field models and extreme-ultraviolet maps, associating the sampled stream with a small equatorial coronal hole. Their measurements reveal a highly structured near-Sun wind and motivate further study of its acceleration and heating. The probe directly measured local fields and plasma; tracing the wind to a coronal hole uses a simplified potential-field and ballistic mapping model and input magnetograms with limited coverage. The event-selection estimate of roughly six percent applies to full polarity reversals in a selected interval and misses smaller deflections. Alfvénic interpretation, reconnection origin and contribution to heating are model-dependent and not uniquely established. Isolated reversals had been reported previously farther from the Sun; this is not a claim that all reversals or solar-wind mechanisms were first discovered here. This early encounter is distinct from the later sub-Alfvénic corona crossing.
Evidence
The linked original works support the scoped statement and contribution attribution. WRS has not independently replayed experiments or reconstructed a full mathematical proof. The probe directly measured local fields and plasma; tracing the wind to a coronal hole uses a simplified potential-field and ballistic mapping model and input magnetograms with limited coverage. The event-selection estimate of roughly six percent applies to full polarity reversals in a selected interval and misses smaller deflections. Alfvénic interpretation, reconnection origin and contribution to heating are model-dependent and not uniquely established. Isolated reversals had been reported previously farther from the Sun; this is not a claim that all reversals or solar-wind mechanisms were first discovered here. This early encounter is distinct from the later sub-Alfvénic corona crossing.
Contributors
- The named authors in the research record · SCIENCE: These are the listed authors of the cited contribution sources. Paper authorship does not quantify individual effort. An incomplete list is explicitly marked; same names are not automatically merged.
Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-28.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.
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