outreach

2023 UCAR/NCAR Summer Program: Heliophysics

kolinski — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 17:30:32 +0000

2023 UCAR/NCAR Summer Program: Heliophysics kolinski Mon, 04/04/2022 - 11:30

Author:

kolinski

Apr 4, 2022

Boulder Space Weather Summer School (website)

Hosted by HAO/NCAR and Sponsored by NSF

Application Deadline: FYI, we will not be holding a Space Weather Summer School in 2023. We hope to resume in 2024.

When/Where:

Who: Graduate students starting their research careers in space physics as well as selected undergraduate students interested in exploring the topic.

Theme: The physics of space weather and its impacts on the space environment, space craft, astronauts and ground based systems. Deepen your conceptual understanding of space weather and the physics behind using fundamental physics principles, spacecraft and ground based data, and model results. Learn from leading researchers in the field and experts in forecasting space weather. Meet other students working in the field.

Description: The Boulder Space Weather Summer School (SWSS) is a two-week program, funded by NSF and hosted by HAO, that gives students a comprehensive introduction to the science of space weather: what it is, what it does, and what can be done about it.

Heliophysics Summer School (website)

Hosted by UCAR/CPAESS and Sponsored by NASA

Application Deadline: 3 March 2023

When/Where: Remote phase from July 17–21, 2023 and an in-person phase from August 7–11, 2023 / Boulder, CO

Who: Advanced graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who want to broaden their understanding of fundamental processes across all disciplines of heliophysics.

Theme: Connecting the Heliosphere: Using Global Models to Connect In-situ and Remote Sensing Data Throughout the Heliosphere.

Description: During this two-week NASA funded summer school hosted by UCAR, participants will:

dive into physics connecting global models to remote and in-situ measurements,
learn from leading experts in the field,
use prototype visualizations tools to recreate data from a spacecraft flying through the magnetosphere,
connect with other early career researchers.

Heliophysics relies on the data collected through in-situ instruments on spacecraft—such as Solar Probe, MMS, and DMSP—to provide point measurements, remote-sensing observations such as solar imagery from SDO and DKIST, and measurements of the upper atmosphere and space environment from ground-based radar and the GOLD spacecraft. Global models allow us to bridge the gap between these measurements and understand the implications for the whole system. This Summer School will explore the various types of models (global MHD, kinetic, and general circulation) across all the domains of heliophysics (solar, heliosphere, magnetosphere, and thermosphere/ionosphere) and their relationship to observations.

For more information and to apply

HAO Outreach: 2020 Little Shop of Physics

kolinski — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:26:26 +0000

HAO Outreach: 2020 Little Shop of Physics kolinski Mon, 12/20/2021 - 12:26

Author:

kolinski

Dec 20, 2021

High Altitude Observatory (HAO) staff was invited by UCAR Science Education to present “Space Weather” to the public at the Little Shop of Physics 29th Annual Open House at the Colorado State University in Fort Collins. It was the biggest and brightest open house they have had yet, which was attended by approximately 10,000 visitors. This was HAO’s first participation in this event and it was a lot of fun.

HAO scientists and engineers presented a variety of hands-on activities that highlighted various properties of light using an infrared camera, ultraviolet and optical emission lamps; numerous hands-on experiments for learning about magnetism and how it plays a fundamental role in the Sun and for the production of space weather. Kids and adults could learn how light and magnetism are used to study the Sun, the Earth and the Universe.

Photograph of children at 2020 Little Shop of Physics with hands-on activities.

Astrid Maute (left) instructing children at 2020 Little Shop of Physics with hands-on activities.

Andrew Carlile (left) instructing children at 2020 Little Shop of Physics with hands-on activities (Ricky Egeland in background).

Ricky Egeland (left) mentoring children at 2020 Little Shop of Physics with hands-on activities.

Thanks a lot to Joan Burkepile for organizing the HAO table and to UCAR Science Education.

Paul Bryans interviewed by Sun Superheroes

kolinski — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:16:54 +0000

Paul Bryans interviewed by Sun Superheroes kolinski Mon, 12/20/2021 - 12:16

Author:

kolinski

Dec 20, 2021

Solar Eclipse Team, Chile, 2019.

Paul Bryans tells Sun Superheroes that a solar eclipse is an opportunity to understand and study the Sun's magnetism. During a solar eclipse, when the moon blocks the Sun, it allows scientists to study the strength and shape of the Sun's surrounding magnetic field. The Sun's energy is completely magnetic and the more we understand its magnetism, the better we can predict coronal mass ejections, flares, and other explosive events that can impact the Earth's electric grid.

Paul explains that as a child he had no plans to become a Sun scientist. In highschool he enjoyed math and science and while studying physics in college he was offered a summer internship at a government Solar Physics lab in England. That experience sparked his interest and he has been studying the Sun ever since. Paul encourages everyone to make an effort to personally witness a total eclipse at least once in their lifetime. Experiencing a total eclipse is special, Paul says, when your surroundings become dark, then cold, and the stars appear in the middle of the day. The next total eclipse in the United States will be in 2024.

Sun SuperHeroes interviewed Dr. Paul Bryans of the High Altitude Observatory about his recent excursion to the Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory in Chile to observe a total solar eclipse.

BACSMediaLab

The 2017 Total Eclipse was a Life-changing Four Minutes

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 19:13:32 +0000

The 2017 Total Eclipse was a Life-changing Four Minutes kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 12:13

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

Jenna Samra had a very extraordinary scientific research experience while visiting Colorado this summer. The recent August 21 total solar eclipse provided Jenna a unique opportunity to test an instrument that she helped design and build, the airborne infrared spectrometer or AIR-Spec.

Jenna Samra, taken on the Gulfstream V research aircraft.

Alexandra Witze

Even a non-scientist, like myself, was fascinated in hearing Jenna’s story about what led her to become interested in solar instrumentation and how that brought her to the flight that was the pivotal moment in her graduate research, and later to HAO to analyze the flight data. Here are some excerpts from what she told me:

“As a child, I liked math and science, and at college (Penn State), I majored in Electrical Engineering because it had elements of both subjects. I stayed at Penn State to get a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and then started a job in applied research. While working, I got some experience with telescopes and spectrometers and developed an interest in optical instrumentation. That four-year work experience inspired me to begin a PhD at Harvard University, where I wanted to build instruments to research climate change. Two years into my PhD, I became interested in a project in the solar group at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). I am now finishing my thesis research on that project, which involved designing, building, and flying an instrument called the airborne infrared spectrometer or AIR-Spec.”

During the summer, 2017, Jenna was part of a Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory team that flew AIR-Spec on the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft. The team flew their instrument during the August 21 total solar eclipse and took infrared spectroscopic measurements of the solar corona. After the eclipse, Jenna returned to Boulder to analyze the eclipse data with HAO’s Philip Judge, an expert in spectroscopy and coronal science. Jenna explained to me that the instrument was designed to observe five coronal emission lines, which were highlighted in Judge’s 1998 paper as potentially useful for measuring the coronal magnetic field. The team believes that AIR-Spec made the first measurement of one of these lines. Jenna and Phil will publish a discovery paper soon.

While Jenna was on her airborne mission, Phil Judge and others from HAO, located at Casper Mountain, Wyoming, were busy making ground-based observations using four instruments that observed visible and infrared light from the corona. These observations will complement the data recorded from the air.

I asked Jenna more about her air flight experience and she elaborated, “The reason we had to be on an airplane was because many of the infrared wavelengths …are absorbed by water, carbon dioxide, and other gases in the earth’s atmosphere. If we were on the ground, this light wouldn’t reach us, but we were flying at 47,000 feet, which is above most of the atmospheric absorption. That’s higher than commercial, but not much, and it doesn’t feel any different when you’re up there. We were in a jet known as a Gulfstream V, which is usually used as a corporate aircraft.” The Gulfstream V, owned by NSF, is located at NCAR’s Research Aviation Facility (RAF). It has undergone various changes to make it suitable for scientific research, including being outfitted with special optical-quality viewports.

She continued, “One of the things that was really challenging about flying instead of observing from the ground was dealing with the motion of the plane relative to the eclipse. Imagine looking out of the window and trying to focus on one point on the horizon—that point is going up and down, left, and right when you’re in an airplane. The plane’s motion was something we had to compensate for in order to make sure that we stayed pointed at the eclipse at all times. We developed a system that would correct for the motion of the plane and always keep the eclipse in the camera.”

The pressure was on, because they only had four minutes of eclipse time. They wouldn’t get any do-overs so they left nothing to chance and practiced flight tests all summer, tracking and measuring the sun over and over again. During totality her team was very busy aligning the Airborne Infrared Spectrometer, assessing the timing, and staying on course by communicating with the pilots. Jenna was watching the context camera, which showed a white light picture of the corona (a black and white image), and PI Ed DeLuca was looking for the spectral emission lines. At first Ed was unable to see any of the lines, because the data was dominated by noise from the high thermal instrument background. Although this was unsettling at the time, the team discovered later that data post processing—a lot of alignment and averaging—would reveal all of their target lines. Jenna’s conclusion? “…We got data and that’s exciting!” The data will help scientists design a future instrument to measure the coronal magnetic field.

After this amazing summer experience I wondered how Jenna would settle down to writing her PhD thesis. Her answer? “The writing is going to require a different kind of mindset that I’m not in yet, but I think that I will get there. There’s always a little hump to get over before the writing gets easier, but right now I’m more in data analysis/instrument building mode, so I just have to transition over.”

I have no doubt Jenna’s passion for her research will see her to completion and further her path to a promising and remarkable future career.

P Judge and R Casini Advise Early Career Researchers

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 19:08:10 +0000

P Judge and R Casini Advise Early Career Researchers kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 12:08

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

Phil Judge and Roberto Casini

Physics World presents an article co-authored by HAO senior scientists, Philip Judge and Roberto Casini, on the challenges for the "budding research scientist" when selecting a meaningful research field and future career.

Their most noted recommendation emphasizes the careful pick for your first major graduate project; not necessarily “accepting the wisdom of a potential adviser”. In most cases, they explain, the first research project determines your career trajectory so it's important "to pick a research area that you find compelling". The article mentions how powerful external influences from societal pressures, public scrutiny and skepticism, and the denial of facts in favor of opinion can affect scientific funding and ultimately future career opportunities.

Read the full article—“Starting out strong”

A bumper crop of HAO summer interns!

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 18:51:08 +0000

A bumper crop of HAO summer interns! kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 11:51

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

Summer, 2017—We hosted twelve summer students at HAO. They worked on a range of projects, from building telescopes to employing numerical models to analyzing observations and simulation data. Meet the students and hear their stories.

Kenzie Nimmo

My name is Kenzie Nimmo and I am an Astronomy and Mathematics student at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. I am an REU intern at the High Altitude Observatory. My project is analysing a numerical MHD model of the solar corona that simulates the evolution of the corona for two days of solar time in response to the formation of a complex sunspot group. The simulation contains sufficiently realistic physics for direct forward modeling of thermal emission from the simulated corona. I will be considering a specific solar flare/CME event in the simulation and will compute the polarimetric observables that could be observed with HAO's CoMP instrument. I will use the simulation as a test to estimate what aspects of the magnetic field structure we could observe on the Sun due to a similar solar event.

Kirsten McMichael

My name is Kirsten McMichael and I am a Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy student at Washington and Lee University, Virginia, and I am interning at HAO through the Boulder Solar Alliance REU Program. At HAO, I will be working on a 3D Solar Dynamo model called STABLE (Surface flux Transport And Babcock-LEighton) that produces realistic magnetic cycles of the Sun. My task will be to introduce synthetic sunspots into this model and to explore how these spots produce magnetic field on the surface. I will then compare the evolution of the magnetic field from this model with another model, AFT (Advective Flux Transport) , a project that will run in parallel to mine this summer.

Oliver Vierkens

My name is Oliver Vierkens and I'm a mathematics undergraduate student in my final year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, participating in the REU program at HAO. Over the summer I'm going to be investigating simulations of the evolution of the magnetic flux on the surface of the Sun by an advective flux transport model known as AFT, which also incorporates the effects of convection. Kirsten's project runs in parallel with mine, and at the end of the project we are looking to compare the results given by our different models, given the same synthetic sunspots.

Keon Gibson

My name is Keon Gibson, and I'm working as a summer intern within the High-Altitude observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. I'm part of a small team developing a thermal infrared telescope which will make measurements of the solar corona during the Total Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017. My goal is to measure specific coronal emission lines with this telescope, these emission lines contain information about the strength of the magnetic fields within the sun’s atmosphere. These magnetic fields are intimately related to the generation of space weather and its effects of the earth.

Kai Cui

My name is Kai Cui, and I’m an intern with the instrumentation group of the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This summer, I am writing a white paper grant proposal to the National Science Foundation to fund a spar which will be placed on the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in Hawaii. A spar is a pointing platform, and this project will allow universities and the community to build and gather data from solar telescopes that they can mount onto the spar.

Anihid Blaisdell

My name is Anahid Blaisdell and I am an intern for the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. I am a part of a small team that is testing and integrating an instrument that measures certain aspects of the sun through a telescope. My goal is to be able to communicate between the instrument and subsystems to allow for the system to work as a whole. This is important so that the system can be successful and gain the desired data.

Alyssa Boll

Hello, my name is Alyssa Boll, and I am an intern at NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory working on a team to develop an experiment for the total solar eclipse in August. The eclipse allows us to clearly view the Sun’s rays and collect data important for forecasting space weather, which can affect the behavior of instruments on Earth. We are using new camera technology inspired from the eyes of the mantis shrimp to take images of during the eclipse. This data is important for understanding the Sun as well as demonstrating the new camera’s capabilities.

Daniel Phelan

My name is Daniel Phelan and I am a summer intern for High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. This instrument will be part of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar telescope, and I am tasked with understand how the system works. By the end of the summer my group hopes to understand how to use the user interface to interact with the motor and control the subsystems.

Luong Vi

My name is Luong Vi, I am an intern at High-Altitude Observatory working on the ChroMag project. The ChroMag is a synoptic solar telescope instrument which means it looks at the whole sun rather than individual regions. I will be redesigning the calibration system for the telescope. Based on the data collected by the instrument, HAO will infer the strength and geometry of the magnetic field within the Chromosphere.

Fernando Chavez

Hello, my name is Fernando Chavez and I am an Aerospace Engineering student at the University of Colorado, in Boulder. I work for the National Center for Atmospheric Research and my task is to test and operate a Cube-Satellite that will eventually be launched into space to measure solar irradiance. Irradiance is the power received from the sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation, and with this project we aim to capture valuable data that will help us better understand the impact of the Sun on Earth’s climate change.

Diego Gomes

My name is Diego Gomes. I am an intern working at NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory this summer on the DIMS spectral solar irradiance CubeSat. The DIMS CubeSat aims to provide spectral solar irradiance monitoring at a low cost using COTS parts. I am focused on the process of integrating the prototype aboard balloon payloads for test flights prior to orbital missions. Additionally, I am developing the process to prepare the payload for an orbital mission post balloon flight. My final goal would be to produce a project WBS that lays out in detail how the project should proceed to get to launch.

Marcel F. corchado-Albelo

Greetings, my name is Marcel F. Corchado-Albelo and I am a Theoretical Physics student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez campus. Currently I am a research intern at NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory, as part of the SOARS program, my summer project is to create a Diagnostic for solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other space weather events, by comparing a low energy model of the coronal magnetic field to Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP) observations. The final goal is to enhance predictions of space weather events.

Joan Burkepile Mentors Middle-School Girls for Over a Decade

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 18:43:17 +0000

Joan Burkepile Mentors Middle-School Girls for Over a Decade kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 11:43

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

For over a decade, Joan Burkepile has participated in the STEM conference for middle school girls called “Expanding Your Horizons,” at CU Boulder. These one-day hands-on workshops are led by women professionals and are designed to be fun and exploratory.

Joan Burkepile (HAO) leading her hands-on workshop “Beyond the Rainbow: What Light Teaches us About our Sun, the Stars and the Universe”

Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) conference for middle school girls held at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder. EYH is organized by the Boulder Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and supported by HAO/NCAR and Seagate. The mission of EYH is to introduce girls in grades 6 through 8 to career opportunities in mathematics, science, engineering, computer science, and technology. During the 1–day conference, each middle school girl attends 3 different 50-min hands-on workshops given by women with STEM careers. HAO support of EYH provides young women with the opportunity to meet and interact with positive STEM women role models, involves young women with limited opportunities for success in positive STEM experiences, increases interest in science by providing exciting and fun hands-on learning experiences, and fosters awareness of science career opportunities.

Astrid Maute was one of the co-organizers of the girls STEM conference. This year, 2017, over 280 middle school girls from the whole Front Range area attended EYH. The yearly workshop is located at the CU Engineering Center.

http://www.eyhn.org/girls

Outreach and Observing at Mauna Loa in Hawaii

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:18:52 +0000

Outreach and Observing at Mauna Loa in Hawaii kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 09:18

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

The domes of Mauna Loa Solar Observatory under rare cloudy skies (photo by Michael Thompson, NCAR Deputy Director, Mesa Lab, Boulder, CO).

Educational outreach is an important and rewarding part of an observer’s job at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) site located on the flanks of Mauna Loa Mountain at an elevation of 3440 meters in the U.S. state of Hawai’i. MLSO is operated by the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), a division of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is located in Boulder, Colorado.

Allen Stueben, (center), giving tour to14 high school students from Namiki High school in Japan.

The MLSO staff gives tours to mountain visitors a couple times a month. These groups of visitors range from colleges in the solar to atmospheric sciences, members of the public and school groups. This year's highlights included 14 high school students from Namiki High school in Japan, HAO/NCAR directors, and a tour of about 30 people from the International Astronomy Teaching Summit conference that happened in Hilo this past summer.

MLSO staff also participate in various community outreach events organized by the local astronomy community. These events typically attract a few hundred visitors and give MLSO a chance to share recent activity at the observatory as well as explain solar phenomena. During the 2018 Astroday West Hawaii event, MLSO made the front page of the local paper with the display featured in the linked article and depicted in the photograph "Lisa Waters" below. (http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2017/11/06/hawaii-news/astro-day-lifts-off/). This years Astroday focused on magnetic fields and effects on the sun (right up our alley). One of our hands on activities had kids try to find magnets hidden behind sun-spots with little compasses.

Ben Berkey (bearded, lower right) giving tour to 30 people from the International Astronomy Teaching Summit conference.

HAO employs two full-time observers (Ben Berkey and Allen Steuben), one 3/4 time (Lisa Waters), and one casual observer (Greg Rose) on the mountain. Working at high altitude is challenging and the road to the summit, called Mauna Loa Scenic Drive or Mauna Loa Observatory Road, is a roughly paved and narrow 17-mile drive that climbs at an average 4.98% grade. For most, the drive is a once in a life time trip, but for our intrepid MLSO team it is a weekly commute.

As Ben Berkey likes to say "the days are long but far between." He describes a day that begins at sea level (Hilo on the east coast) and well before sunrise. Then, in a race against time, he travels upward along a treacherous road gaining thousands of meters in elevation. With luck, over an hour into the drive, he will emerge above cloud level into a clear sky; the world begins to brighten. At this point it is still a half an hour of travel and additional thousands of meters to gain while winding through a stark landscape of barren mounds of a'a or lava. Upon arriving at the observatory "temple", devoted to the study and tracking of the sun, it is a sudden flurry of activity to begin the day's tasks. Sleeping computers must be awakened and inspected to ensure their readiness for the work to come. In preparation, the great record-keeping tome must be opened to a fresh blank page. Next, ascending the telescope steps to inspect and clean the instrument, and finally the sun has emerged from the mountain and the great dome doors can be opened; let there be light! With great effort and much precision push and pull of the instruments, the tracking of the sun's progress begins. Now it's time to watch and wait. Clouds and moisture can be an issue and then the dome has to be closed and the daily observation mission aborted. If this were to happen there is always plenty more to do...caring for instrumentation is one of many top priorities, –lubricating moving parts, changing codes, and doing general building maintenance is required too.

Lisa Waters demonstrating magnetic fields and effects on the sun at the local astronomy community event, Astroday in West Hawaii.

All these daily labors of love are done by this sparse crew and they work mostly alone. They welcome the rare occasions when visitors arrive for educational tours and they have the opportunity to share the facility, equipment, and the solar science. On some occasions, when big equipment and/or heavy parts must be managed, then contractors are hired (MLSO installed a new dome in January 2016). As day light fades, the instrumentation is parked and the great doors, if still open, are now closed for the night. Ben returns to the sea by the same lonely road, saluting the sun as it falls below the horizon. It requires a unique and dedicated individual to handle the unusual working conditions at MLSO, an individual that can tolerate the extreme quite of this solitary and remote area, and a person that can accept the constantly changing and extreme weather conditions of a ruggedly high-altitude office location, but our team, the unsung heroes of Mauna Loa, seem to thrive.

Facts and figures:
3.5 hours driving, 10 hours on site.
Ben Berkey (Hilo, HI) and Allen Stueben (Kona, HI) are full time. Lisa Waters is 3/4 time. Greg is a casual.
Work schedule:
Ben works Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Allen works Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.
Lisa works as a floater, nominally every other Sunday with 3 other days of overlap with either Allen or Ben during a 2 week period.
Greg works ever other Sunday.

The road to Mauna Loa Observatory.

A note from Ben: The altitude tends to make things take a little longer than normal. People think slower and physical exertion is harder. We have a ~500 foot walk up the hill (~30 foot elevation gain) from the parking lot which often makes me feel a bit out of shape especially if I am jogging. Jogging might be required if some clouds roll in while I am at the restroom down by the parking lot and I need to hustle up to the observatory to close the dome or otherwise react.

Written by Ben Berkey and Wendy Hawkins.

MLSO Honors the Sun at AstroDay West

kolinski — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 16:00:47 +0000

MLSO Honors the Sun at AstroDay West kolinski Fri, 12/17/2021 - 09:00

Author:

kolinski

Dec 17, 2021

On October 6th, the MLSO staff participated in AstroDay 2018, an educational outreach event coordinated by the Mauna Kea Observatories. 3,000 people attended. This was the second occurrence of this event, located in Kailua-Kona, on the west side of Hawaii Island. It featured booths and science displays from various local observatories, robotics clubs from numerous schools, and other tech-savvy groups.

Child safely viewing the sun through optical telescope.

Last year, MLSO had a booth featuring magnets, to demonstrate how magnetic fields dominate physical processes on the Sun, and explaining the observing instruments used to detect these solar magnetic fields. Our experience in 2017 was very positive, and our observer, Lisa Waters, was featured in the local paper.

So it was with excitement and anticipation that we approached this second event, AstroDay 2018. We settled on a theme of “the sun in many wavelengths.” We showed how direct observations of the Sun using solar telescopes compares with other types of observations, including polarized images, and ultraviolet images and movies made using instruments on orbiting satellites.

University student explaining the radio telescope experiment.

This year we teamed with college students from the University of Hawaii Astrophysics club. MLSO staff handled the movies and ultraviolet images, while the university students assisted the public with the use of the telescopes and explained what they were viewing. With the students, we built a radio telescope based on the “itty bitty radio telescope” project. The concept was to use a common device that is widely known to be associated with satellites and communication (a radio telescope) and show how the Sun also emits waves at radio wavelengths. A simple sensor produced an audio tone of different frequencies when a signal was detected. Children moved the dish back and forth until they could find the sun. For the more ambitious kids, we also had them try to find Jupiter, which was much harder during the daytime. Unfortunately, we had absolutely zero sunspots on AstroDay 2018 and only a few small prominences, but the university students helped everyone interested in seeing other solar phenomena.

Lisa Waters demonstrating UV beads.

In the MLSO booth, we tried to reinforce what people saw in the telescopes with a photosphere intensity demonstration and H-alpha movies. We demonstrated that even though the visible disk of the sun appears uneventful when viewing, the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite and movies from the MLSO coronagraph capture some interesting processes in the solar corona. This lead to further discussion of how these processes lead to changes in the solar wind and geomagnetic storms on earth. For the younger booth visitors, we helped them make bracelets out of UV sensitive beads that changed color in the sunlight to explain how there is some light from the sun that we can’t see with our eyes, but still affect things here on earth.

Overall it was a fun and successful day of public outreach for MLSO. It was wonderful collaborating with the university students at building a solar/radio wavelength exhibit that was a useful and engaging learning tool for the public. MLSO looks forward to more Astroday events and other public outreach opportunities and collaborations in the near future.

Ben Berkey and MLSO coronagraph images.

outreach

2023 UCAR/NCAR Summer Program: Heliophysics

Boulder Space Weather Summer School (website)

Heliophysics Summer School (website)

Recent News

HAO Outreach: 2020 Little Shop of Physics

Recent News

Paul Bryans interviewed by Sun Superheroes

Recent News

The 2017 Total Eclipse was a Life-changing Four Minutes

Recent News

P Judge and R Casini Advise Early Career Researchers

Recent News

A bumper crop of HAO summer interns!

Recent News

Joan Burkepile Mentors Middle-School Girls for Over a Decade

Recent News

Outreach and Observing at Mauna Loa in Hawaii

Recent News

MLSO Honors the Sun at AstroDay West

Recent News