Detection of Magnetic Regions in the Sun: Helping a Computer Program See the Obvious

Advisors: Andres Munoz-Jaramillo, Dana Longcope

Sunspots are the visible manifestation of strong magnetic regions in the Sun. The number of these magnetic regions, on Sun at any given time changes with the solar cycle, and their collective effect keeps the solar cycle going. For this reason, having a detailed database of magnetic regions a is very important for understanding how the solar cycle works. It is a necessary first step in our full understanding of the solar cycle. The main objective of this project is to create a long-term detailed database of magnetic regions to study the solar cycle (something that doesn't yet exist). Your responsibility will be to supervise an algorithm that automatically detects magnetic regions, and correct the mistakes it makes. This project continues work started in last year's REU program (see http://solar.physics.montana.edu/reu/2014/mdeluca/). While there will be a local co-mentor, most of the interaction with your main mentor off campus. You will conference with him using online conference tools. Two previous REU projects using this arrangement have been very successful.