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Researchers will have rare opportunities over the next year to study solar flares and coronal mass ejections, observations that could lead to improved space weather forecasts.

2024 promises opportunities to study the solar corona - SpaceNews Close Sign up for our newsletters Subscribe to the Magazine Search for: Search News Opinion Military Launch Commercial Sponsored More Open dropdown menu Civil Policy & Politics SpaceNews First Up Audio SpaceNews Icon Awards Events Calendar Add Your Event About SpaceNews Advertise Open dropdown menu 2024 Media Kit Facebook Page X LinkedIn YouTube RSS Feed Close Skip to content Covering the business and politics of space Sign up for our newsletters Subscribe to the Magazine Menu News Opinion Military Launch Commercial Sponsored More Open dropdown menu Civil Policy & Politics SpaceNews First Up Audio SpaceNews Icon Awards Events Calendar Add Your Event About SpaceNews Advertise Open dropdown menu 2024 Media Kit Open Search Search for: Search Posted inCivil 2024 promises opportunities to study the solar corona by Debra Werner December 11, 2023December 12, 2023 Click to share on X (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Clipboard (Opens in new window) A composite video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R Series Solar Ultraviolet Imager instrument shows small-scale jetlet activity at the base of the solar corona. This can be seen in the wavy structures emanating from the surface of the Sun. The observations were made over the course of approximately 10 hours on April 28, 2021. Credit: NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory/GOES-R SAN FRANCISCO – Researchers will have rare opportunities over the next year to study solar flares and coronal mass ejections, observations that could lead to improved space weather forecasts. During the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse, NASA will gather data on the sun’s corona from instruments mounted on satellites, aircraft and sounding rockets. “The moon is a perfect coronagraph,” Kelly Korreck, NASA eclipse program manager, said Dec. 11 at the American Geophysical Union conference here. NASA researchers will compare computer models of the sun’s corona with imagery gathered during the eclipse from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the European Space Agency-NASA Solar Orbiter. The various perspectives will give researchers a “3D understanding of the corona as well because you can triangulate a lot of different structures that we see from Earth and in another direction from the Solar Orbiter,” said Amir Caspi, Southwest Research Institute principal scientist. In addition, NASA will gather multispectral coronal imagery from instruments sent aloft on a pair of WB-57F jets. And sounding rockets launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, will eject magnetometers, accelerometers and other instruments to monitor the ionosphere. “Now instead of validating models with just one view, we can validate them with multiple views,” Nour Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Parker’s Close Approach Launched in 2018, the Parker Solar Probe’s closest solar approach is set for Dec. 24, 2024. At that time, the probe will be 6.1 million kilometers from the sun’s surface. For comparison, Mercury is 58 million kilometers from the sun. By traveling closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft, the Parker Solar Probe could obtain observations that help explain perplexing solar activity. “The solar corona by nature is so mysterious,” Raouafi said. “It is over 300 times hotter than the solar surface. That is absolutely counterintuitive because from everyday experience, if you are getting away from the heat source, it cools down.” Another mystery is the flow of ions and electrons traveling more than 3 million kilometers per hour from the sun. “Where do they get the energy to be accelerated so fast?” Raouafi said. Atmospheric Waves Additional data related to space weather is being gathered by the NASA Atmospheric Waves Experiment. AWE traveled to the International Space Station in November aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket cargo resupply mission. “Gravity waves that arise from tropospheric weather can grow in amplitude enormously because of decreasing density and can have enormous effects at high altitudes,” said Dave Fritts, vice president of atmospheric research for GATS, a company in Newport News, Virginia. Data gathered by AWE “will enable predictions of these waves propagating to very high altitudes,” he added. At high altitudes, gravity waves may have “very important impacts in the thermosphere, the ionosphere and the lower space weather environment,” Fritts said. “There’s even the potential that capabilities like this can contribute to predictive capabilities down the road.” Related In wake of eclipse, NOAA prepares for enhanced solar observationsSAN FRANCISCO – As the annular solar eclipse drew widespread public attention, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration leaders gathered at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta were considering their own solar observations. "Ultimately, as NASA and NOAA work with European partners to build out a system that is capable of observing…NASA researchers get permission to apply for China’s moon samplesNASA-funded researchers have been granted permission to apply for access to China's Chang'e-5 lunar samples in an exception to a prohibition on bilateral activities.NASA selects SpaceX for rideshare launch of smallsat missionNASA has selected SpaceX to launch a pair of smallsats to study space weather as part of a rideshare mission in 2025. Debra Werner twitter Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is... 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