The upper atmosphere of Earth is constantly being impacted by the flow of charged particles being released from the sun. This flow (the solar wind) carries with it a magnetic field which distorts and reshapes that of Earth, ultimately resulting in a large amount of electromagnetic space weather energy being channelled into the polar regions. …[Read More]
Science Posts
Reflection after the investigation of the direct First Parker Solar Probe Observation of the Interaction of Two Successive ICMEs
In Heliophysics there is a scarcity of in-situ buoys that allows us to monitor and track the solar wind changes in our Sun’s atmosphere, the heliosphere. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission is one of those buoys that, together with Solar Orbiter (SolO, ESA/NASA Collaboration), is bringing a breath of fresh air in the effort …[Read More]
Initiation and Heliospheric Evolution of a stealthy solar eruption
In the early 1970s, when Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive eruptions of magnetized solar plasma into interplanetary space, were first discovered, they were assumed to be always associated with the energetic solar phenomenon like solar flares, prominences, etc. With improved coronagraphic and multi-wavelength observational instruments, a class of CMEs emerging from the streamers was found …[Read More]
First year of Energetic Particle Measurements with EPD aboard Solar Orbiter
One year ago, the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Sun observing spacecraft Solar Orbiter (SolO) was launched starting a long-awaited journey. SolO (Figure 1) will provide both in-situ and remote sensing measurements in the inner Heliosphere and EPD will contribute particularly to the latter ones. EPD consists of four sensors …[Read More]
New auroral dunes discovered through citizen science
The region of the Earth’s atmosphere lying at altitudes between about 80 and 120 km, corresponding to the mesosphere–lower thermosphere–ionosphere (MLTI), is often referred to as the “ignorosphere”, because its observation is so challenging that only a handful of measurements of its composition, temperature and other physical parameters have been obtained over the last few decades. …[Read More]
Chasing solar storms as an early career scientist
Hello! My name is Erika Palmerio and I am a newly qualified Dr in space physics from the University of Helsinki, Finland. In this blog post I will talk about my PhD research and my future career plans. The title of my PhD dissertation is “Magnetic structure and geoeffectiveness of coronal mass ejections”. Coronal mass …[Read More]
New insights to the north-south asymmetries of auroral features
Recent research on the simultaneous displays of aurora in both hemispheres have lead to new knowledge of how large-scale asymmetries in the global magnetic field configuration can arise and be mitigated. This new understanding is contrary to what has been the consensus in the field, and was recently highlighted in a press release from the …[Read More]
Web-based Tools for Forecasting Solar Particle Events and Flares
The presence of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) poses a serious health risk to humans in space, can result in increased radiation doses for high-latitude aircraft flights and constitutes a serious hazard for the micro-electronics and other hardware elements of satellites, aircraft and launchers. These groups of end users need reliable forecasts of possible enhancements in …[Read More]
A close-up journey to the Sun: The Parker Solar Probe Mission
Almost two months ago, in August 12, 2018 Parker Solar Probe (PSP) launched by NASA on a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This is a long-awaited mission from the Heliospheric community. The first to explore the Sun within distances of ~0.167 AU (or 25 million kilometers) at its perihelia. Its ancestors were …[Read More]
Cosmogenic Radionuclides – The quest of studying the solar activity of thousands of years
Thanks to the invention of the Neutron Monitor in 1948 and multiple spacecraft which monitor the cosmic ray environment since 1970’s we now have a constant record of the solar activity over almost 70 years. Information prior to this space era, however, are rare and take us back in time only to the late 1930s, when …[Read More]