HAO News

HAO News

BSD teaser imager

Announcing 2024 Boulder Solar Day

Boulder Solar Day is 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. Registration, agenda, and abstracts are not yet available.

UCoMP image from April 9th, 2024.

HAO flew observers to MLSO to observe the Sun during the solar eclipse

On April 8, 2024, the day of the total solar eclipse, HAO observers Ben Berkey (site manager) and Lisa Perez-Gonzalez flew by helicopter to the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) located at 11,200 feet on the north face of Mauna Loa to observe the Sun’s corona using the MLSO coronagraphs.

2024 Total Solar Eclipse Composite

Chasing the IR Corona through Solar Eclipse Experiments

The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, was a great opportunity for the team of HAO, NSO, and NOAA scientists and collaborators to travel to a location on the totality path with the goal of running unique science experiments. Using additional telescopes, binoculars, and outreach materials, we were able to capture the eclipse throughout its phases and share our passion with a very excited local crowd.

Cover of Phil Judge's book, The Problem of Coronal Heating

New Book! The Problem of Coronal Heating: A Rosetta Stone for Electrodynamic Coupling in Cosmic Plasmas

HAO is pleased to announce the publication of a new and timely book written for young and open-minded scientists just prior to the total eclipse over the USA in April. Senior scientist Philip Judge and co-author James A. Ionson ask why, 8 decades after Bengt Edlen published his seminal article, we still do not have a clear answer to one of the longest-lasting puzzles in all of astronomy.  Why is the solar corona so hot?

WHPI campaign April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse

WHPI repository of 2024 Total Solar Eclipse activities

The Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024 offers ideal conditions for eclipse science, unique opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaborations, and an excellent occasion for public engagement. HAO is leading the effort through the Whole Heliosphere and Planetary Interactions (WHPI) initiative to support the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse by providing a platform for gathering information on ongoing eclipse activities. Please contact us at whpi_help@hao.ucar.edu if you have any questions or would like to be included.

UCoMP data on MLSO website.

MLSO UCoMP Science Data Now Available

The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Upgraded Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter (UCoMP) coronagraph science data (version 1.0.1) have now been released to the community via the Mauna Loa web page.

HAO team at National Society of Black Physicists meeting, Knoxville, TN, 2023

NCAR/HAO hosts booth at National Society of Black Physicists meeting

HAO hosted a booth at the 2023 National Society for Black Physicists meeting in Knoxville, TN. This was a great opportunity for students Marcel Corchado-Albelo and Chandler Jenkins and postdoc Kinfe Teweldebirhan Gebreegzabihar to reach out to the community on behalf of HAO and NCAR. We are grateful for the tremendous support we got from NASA PUNCH Outreach who provided a kit of their engaging tabletop activities (along with a helpful training!).  

Cool effect when trying to capture the eclipse through the telescope.

Annular Eclipse Expedition at Hovenweep

On 14 October 2023, a captivating annular eclipse graced the skies from Oregon to Texas in the U.S. It was a privilege to not only witness this celestial spectacle but also engage with a curious audience that included a team of solar physicists from both the High Altitude Observatory at NCAR and the National Solar Observatory. Visiting students and/or voluntary collaborators were also among the spectators.

Butterfly diagram

HMI Science Nuggets features: Rossby waves and the organization of photospheric magnetic fields

Breno Raphaldini, Mausumi Dikpati, and Scott W. McIntosh are highlighted in the HMI Science Nuggets. Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetic field synoptic maps are used to evaluate the magnetic field structures’ organization and propagation as a function of time and latitude. It is demonstrated that the organization of longitudinal structures observed on synoptic maps is proportional to the level of activity at given latitudes.