Evergreen's summer research in solar physics

Two Evergreen undergraduates per summer have had the opportunity to work with our research colleagues at the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO. We are studying magnetic dynamics in the Sun. Our work contributes to efforts to answer questions such as:

  • Why does the Sun's magnetic field flip every 11 years?
  • How does the Sun's magnetic activity affect space weather and the Earth?
  • Why is the temperature in the Sun's upper atmosphere millions of degrees higher than the Sun's surface temperature?
  • How do sound waves at the Sun's surface become magnetic waves in the Sun's lower atmosphere?
  • How can magnetic waves carry energy up to heat the Sun's upper atmosphere?
Click on the links below to get to our papers and presentations.
Summer 2004: Night Song worked with solar dynamo simulations, with Dr. Mausumi Dikpati and Eric McDonald, and
Chris Dove analyzed simulations of magnetic waves in the Sun's atmosphere, with Dr. Tom Bogdan.

Summer 2002: Noah Heller analyzed data from a satellite observing the Sun, with Dr. Phil Judge
Summer 2001: Matt Johnson and Sara Petty-Powell analyzed simulations of magnetic waves in the Sun's atmosphere, with Dr. Tom Bogdan.
   
   


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