Speaker
Description
Data provided by the instruments placed on board Solar Orbiter are pivotal for several different, yet intertwined, applications. For instance, observations from the EPD/HET instrument are needed to run Monte Carlo simulations to reproduce the tracks in the Metis cosmic-ray matrices and for comparison with results of the visual analysis.
To make visual analysis tasks easier and faster, our group has designed dedicated software applications. First, we have developed the SEPPEL tool, devoted to the detection of solar energetic particle (SEP) events noticeable from the EPD/HET observation time series. SEPPEL provides a suite of functionalities aimed at generating customisable plots of the EPD/HET protons, with the possibility to save the generated images on the local disk or in the application memory for further elaborations. Second, we have built the REBECCA tool upon our previous experience on the visual analysis of the Metis cosmic-ray matrices. REBECCA enables the analysis of one or more complete matrices, unfeasible for human analysts, in just a few seconds. A set of utilities is also present to complement the automated analysis with a human feedback and to average results over multiple elaborations.
For the first five years of the mission, cosmic-ray and SEP events were studied near the ecliptic. In 2025 the Solar Orbiter orbit has begun to tilt with respect to the ecliptic. We have compared the preliminary results of the Metis cosmic-ray matrix observations out of the ecliptic at ±16° with the most similar conditions of solar activity obtained when the spacecraft was orbiting the Sun near the ecliptic. This preliminary analysis appears consistent with our previous observations, but the different position of the spacecraft with respect to the interplanetary magnetic field lines is expected to affect the particle interactions deeply into the spacecraft. Details on the analysis will be presented at the conference.
