HAO News

As part of HAO's DEI initiative, we recently sponsored nine 4th & 5th grade girls (and 1 boy) and 8 parents from Port Towns Elementary School in Bladensburg, MD, a predominantly low-income area near Washington, DC, to travel to Boulder and participate in the KidWind Challenge at CU. They had won the regional competition, which qualified them for a chance to compete here with their wind turbine.

Registration is open!  The last BSD was in 2018. Not willing to wait any longer we decided to meet on Friday, September 29, 2023. We hope to see you all this fall for an informal 1-day meeting that brings together researchers from CU, HAO, LASP, NOAA, NSO, NWRA, and SwRI as well as out-of-town visitors to give an overview of solar research being accomplished at local institutes and to discuss current progress on solar instrumentation, observations, and models. 

The first scientific paper using data from the Visible SpectroPolarimeter (ViSP) has been published. The Inouye Solar Telescope's ViSP reveals new insight into the magnetic properties of waves and shocks as observed as "umbral flashes" within a small sunspot.

ViSP was developed at HAO and this publication is co-authored by HAO scientists Roberto Casini, Alfred de Wijn, and Philip Judge.

The Heliophysics Summer School is run by NASA's Living With a Star program and UCAR/CPAESS since 2007; focusing on the physics of space weather events.
Apply for this summer 2023—deadline is
3 March 2023, see website.

We regret that the Space Weather Summer School is not meeting in 2023, but we hope to resume in 2024.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace professional society, has selected Dartmouth professor and HAO Senior Research Associate Mary Hudson to be a member of the Class of 2023 AIAA Associate Fellows.

After 38 years, Hawaii's Mauna Loa erupted on Sunday 27 November 2022 at 11:30 PM local time. The eruption quickly filled the summit caldera forcing lava to spill and flow outward in an east and west direction. While the exact timing was a surprise, the eruption was anticipated due to recently felt earthquakes. Lava flows east of the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) have destroyed parts of the access road to the observatory and knocked out all power to the site. MLSO is not near any lava flows and not in any immediate danger.

Charlie J. Garcia passed away comfortably on 11/19/21 at age 91 surrounded by his caring family members. There is a celebration of his life on Saturday, November 5, 2022 in Hilo, HI. The High Altitude Observatory (HAO) at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) would like to honor Charlie’s life with the following photographic highlights from his long career as the Mauna Loa Chief Observer.

This upcoming BBC news broadcast includes commentary from HAO's Phil Judge & Claire Raftery at NSO is titled The Sun: Myths and Magnetism. We provide you with options for viewing.

HAO is absolutely thrilled to announce that our very own Sarah Gibson has become an AGU Fellow in the 2022 class as just released on 19 September by EOS Science News! Please join us in congratulating her on a well-deserved recognition of an impactful and successful career.