Super-fast Phenomena in the Sun's Atmosphere

Advisor: Philip Judge

If we see something "moving faster than light", it can only be an apparent motion. With recent powerful imaging spectrographs, solar data have revealed phenomena moving very fast - far in excess of the fastest wave mode speeds (excluding light) that can propagate through the Sun's atmosphere. In this project, high resolution data acquired with a 0.1s cadence in the hydrogen Balmer alpha line will be studied to determine the nature of these super-fast apparent motions. There is heated debate in the community concerning whether these and similar motions are associated with flows of mass, momentum and energy. The central question addressed is therefore to understand the real nature of such fast apparent motions and their relationship to phenomena called "spicules", observed since 1878.