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Project type and supervisor
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Project title and brief description
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Modeling with
Dana
Longcope
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Simulating A Solar Flare
Solar flares occur when a large amount of energy is converted into X-rays, heat, and supersonic fluid motion. Prior
to the flare this energy is stored as magnetic field filling the atmosphere above sunspots and related features called
active regions. The energy is released suddenly when an electric field changes the connectivity of several coronal
magnetic field lines, which then retract rapidly. The fluid in these field line moves faster than the speed of sound
and therefore creates shocks, which are believed to heat the plasma to tens of millions of Kelvins. In this project
we will run numerical simulations to model this process.
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Data analysis with
Marika McCarthy
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Study of Reconnection Events and Their Properties Using Coronal Loops
When viewed in X-ray or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, consists of many thin strands called loops.
These loops are believed to trace out the magnetic fields, and are formed by a process called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic
reconnection exchanges magnetic flux between neighbouring systems and releases magnetic energy. To understand this crucial physical process,
we will analyze X-ray and EUV images and make quantitative measurements of magnetic flux involved in reconnection, using a technique
pioneered by the team at MSU.
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Data analysis with
Jake Parker
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Analyzing Small Solar Eruptions Captured by the ESIS Sounding Rocket and Coordinating Observatories
Our team at Montana State University successfully launched the Extreme Ultraviolet Snapshot Imaging Spectrograph (ESIS) sounding rocket on September 30th 2019. ESIS
has a unique capability that takes images of the Sun in multiple spectral orders. In this project, we will analyze one-of-a-kind observations from this new exciting telescope.
We will invert the ESIS data using advanced imaging processing techniques to measure Doppler shifts and study properties of small-scale eruptive events on the Sun.
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Data analysis with
Jiong Qiu
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Acceleration of Coronal Mass Ejections in the Low Solar Corona
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are spectacular energy release events from the Sun's corona.
The most interesting and critical physics that is relevant to the trigger and release of CMEs occurs
in the low corona. In this project, we will probe these physical processes with observations of the low
corona by multiple spacecraft viewing the Sun from different angles.
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Data Analysis with
Aki Takeda
and Suman Panda
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Solar X-ray Irradiance with Hinode/XRT
Our Sun is a variable star, and the amount of its radiation rises and falls every 11 years or so.
The radiation from the Sun received at the earth (irradiance) varies over the activity cycle,
and also varies with the observing wavelength. In this project, we will derive the long-term
variation of the Sun's irradiance in soft X-rays, using a series of full-Sun
images observed with the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard
the Hinode satellite, which is an international space mission among
Japan/US/UK.
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Optical instrumentation with
Joe Shaw
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Analysis of Optical Aurora Detector Data
Auroras, the beautiful light shows in the sky, are caused by solar storms.
In this project, we will calibrate an optical instrument that is
designed to measure auroras ("northern lights") and send information that
can be used to notify interested observers. We will apply the calibration to
data collected in Alaska, and explore different aurora-identification
algorithms.
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Hardware development with
John Sample
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Space Hardware Development: Space Flight Systems for Space Science
Join our Small Satellite Team for Summer 2020! MSU's Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) involves science and engineering students in highly responsible roles associated with the development of space flight systems for scientific applications. The student(s) will develop spaceflight hardware through design, development, and testing as a member of an interdisciplinary project student team.
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