In this Feb. 1 talk, LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) Solar Scientist and Associate Director Tom Woods will discuss our understanding of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, based on more than two decades of observations of the sun as a star with LASP-built instruments aboard NASA satellites.
Solar flares, as well as their often-eruptive companions called coronal mass ejections (CME), have been studied for decades. While most of these studies involve imaging the sun, observations of the sun as a star (full-disk irradiance) have also revealed interesting results through exploring the spectral variability during flare events. These sun-as-a-star flare measurements have been made over the past two solar cycles with LASP-built instruments aboard the NASA UARS, TIMED, SORCE, SDO and MinXSS satellites.
Some of the new results from such studies include understanding the flare variability over all wavelengths—from the energetic X-rays to the visible, discovering and classifying different flare phases, using coronal dimming measurements to predict CME properties of mass and velocity and better understanding the coronal heating processes.
Who: Tom Woods
What: "Surprising Solar Flares: Studying the Sun as a Star"
When: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Where: East Campus, LSTB, room 299
Cost: FREE and open to public
The talk is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the LASP Space Technology Building (LSTB), room 299, on East Campus. The doors open at 7 p.m. Parking and admission are free.
An affiliate of CU Boulder AeroSpace Ventures, LASP is a collaboration among aerospace-related departments, institutes, centers, government labs and industry partners. It was founded in 1948, a decade before NASA, and is the world’s only research institute to have sent instruments to all eight planets and Pluto.
For more information on Wood's upcoming talk, please email the LASP Office of Communications and Outreach.
