Solar-Terrestrial Sciences

Prof. Ilya Usoskin – A discussion with an inquiry mind

Athanasios Papaioannou May 16, 2018

In Ancient Greece, the Sun was believed to be a god named Helios, who drove his shining carriage pulled by a quadriga along a dangerous and unpaved path through the sky. This was probably the first model of the Sun. Nowadays, we not only have a somewhat better theory but also know that, even during the Ancient Greek era, the Sun was not exactly like in this picture (from http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Helios.html)

In the May issue of the Life of a Scientist we have the pleasure to talk to Prof. Ilya Usoskin from the Univeristy of Oulu, Finland. Among numerous things, he is the head of the Oulu Cosmic Ray station and receipent of this year’s Julius Bartels EGU Medal; a decision that was based: “on his contributions to the understanding of the heliosphere, long-term changes in the solar activity ...[Read More]

Report from the 2018 EGU General Assembly

Jone Peter Reistad April 20, 2018

EGU venue. Credit: EGU/Stephanie McClellan

Last week the 2018 General Assembly were held in Vienna. Gathering 15 075 scientists from 106 countries, this is the most important EGU event throughout the year. Summarizing what happened during the week is an impossible task, as a meeting like this is way more than the 666 individual sessions convened and the 11 128 posters presented during the week. However, in this post I will point to some of ...[Read More]

Cosmic rays – messengers from space

Athanasios Papaioannou March 19, 2018

Artistic representation of cosmic rays entering the Earth's atmosphere (Credit: Asimmetrie/INFN).

Cosmic rays (CRs), are not actually rays, but highly energetic charged particles of extraterrestrial origin. The life cycle of a cosmic ray particle starts with its birth at some point in the Universe, its travel at nearly the speed of light and finally with its death ( e.g. at a detector). These highly energetic particles strike our planet from all directions and thus provide a constant backgroun ...[Read More]

Social media response to geomagnetic activity

Jone Peter Reistad February 15, 2018

Daily averaged geomagnetic activity level and daily count of posts related to Aurora from Twitter during March 2017

Social media platforms offer every person with internet access the possibility to share content of various kind. The recent increase in social media use globally give birth to new tools and insights, from a different perspective. The size of, and the global nature of the user driven social media, makes one expect it to include information also about geomagnetic activity related to posts of visual ...[Read More]

How do we study the magnetosphere?

Jone Peter Reistad January 15, 2018

The Sun-Earh system. Credit: NASA

Our closest star, the Sun, is constantly emitting hot gas in all directions as its upper atmosphere, the corona, expands. This is known as the Solar Wind, also carrying with it an embedded magnetic field, the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). The IMF originates at the Sun and forms an enormous spiral throughout the solar system as the solar wind escapes radially, while the magnetic field-line ...[Read More]

Dr. Helen Mason – Solar space missions: a life with the Sun

Kamalam December 15, 2017

Image credit: Paul Luckas/Shenton Park Observatory

In the December issue of Life of a Scientist we have an interview of Dr. Helen Mason. She was working at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, UK until recently when she retired. Her research interests include UV and X-Ray spectrum of the Sun. She has also devoted a lot of time in promoting science and working with schools from all over the w ...[Read More]

EGU for Early Career Scientists

Jone Peter Reistad November 15, 2017

Austria International Center, Vienna. Image credit: EGU/Stephanie McClellan

Are you a student, or have obtained a MSc or PhD degree within the past 7 years? If yes, you are an Early Career Scientist! In the EGU we take great care of the young scientists, and offer a wide range of opportunities, mostly associated with the General Assembly. My name is Jone Peter Reistad and I am the Early Career Scientist (ECS) representative in the Solar-Terrestrial division. My role is to ...[Read More]

Eyes on the Sun

Kamalam October 31, 2017

Fig. 1: The Sun’s layers in different wavelengths. Credits NASA/GSFC/SDO

The Sun is a complex, dynamic ball of plasma which influences our lives. Studying the Sun is challenging because each of its layers have different composition, physics and wavelengths of emssion. Moving outwards from the photosphere (visible surface of the Sun), we have the chromosphere and the corona (hottest outermost layer). The solar plasma is in constant motion much like fiercely boiling wate ...[Read More]

Miho Janvier – The Quest for Solar Storms

Athanasios Papaioannou September 15, 2017

A snapshot of the Sun as this is revealed by SDO (Credit: SDO)

In this month’s (first ever for our blog) Life of a Scientist interview, we are very happy to talk to Dr Miho Janvier, a Researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay (France), whose work has shed some light on the understanding of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (or solar storms) from their birth in the Sun’s corona to their evolution in interplanetary space ...[Read More]

The 2017 solar eclipse and scientific discoveries

Koen Hendrickx August 14, 2017

Composite image showing a detailed view of the solar corona during the 2009 eclipse. Credit: Miloslav Druckmüller

The next solar eclipse is upon us. On August 21 the moon will pass between the Sun and an observer’s point of view in America and block out daylight, creating an eerie gloom in the sky. The transit of the moon between the Earth and Sun occurs about every 18 months, but for your particular city it can take several hundreds of years before a new eclipse occurs. The figure below shows the paths of al ...[Read More]