UCL DEPT. OF SPACE & CLIMATE PHYSICS
SOLAR & STELLAR PHYSICS GROUP
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MSSL Solar & Stellar Group News

SAGAS

Prof. Louise Harra gave a lecture on "The solar cycle begins in earnest - or does it ?" to the Southern Area Group of Astronomical Societies.  (05/07/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Temporal evolution of microflares in brigth points by Suguru Kamio is the title of the new EIS Nugget for July. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/07/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Contamination levels of EIS (as measured by QCM and LED fat-field intensityu levels) by Louisa Bradley is the title of the new EIS Nugget for June. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/06/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Hinode observations and 3D magnetic structure of an X-ray bright point Caroline Alexander and Giulio Del Zanna is the title of the new EIS Nugget for May. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/05/2011)
RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2011

MSSL solar group participated actively in the 2011 NAM in Landudno (17-21 April 2011).
    Parallel Sessions organized by our group
  • Dr. Colin Forsyth, Dr. Lucie Green, Dr. David Williams:UK/MIST missions forum.
  • Dr. Deborah Baker, Dr. Lucie Green, Ehsan Pedram:Flux Emergence.
  • Dr. Lucie Green, Ehsan Pedram:Outreach
  • Oral Contributions
  • Dr. Lucie Green:LEMUR - The proposed European contribution to JAXA's Solar-C mission
  • Dr. Lucie Green:Public talk "surviving solar storms" and various interviews with the media.
  • Dr. Bernhard Kliem: Coronal mass ejection-flare relationship and the topology of the erupting field.
  • Dr. Chuan Li: How does the coronal magnetic topology relate solar activity events to in-situ electron streams.
  • Dr. David Williams: The SPARK Mission to understand particle acceleration extremes.
  • Dr. Sergei Zharkov: Helioseismic analysis of first SDO sun-quake.
  • Poster Contributions
  • Dr. Bernhard Kliem: Helicity transport in a simulated CME.
  • Ehsam Pedram: Photospheric signatures of eruptive events.
  • David Shelton: Dynamics in the solar atmosphere due to emerging flux observed by HINODE.
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez: Granular-scale magnetic flux emergence within an emerging active region.
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez: Making the most of a poster to atract non-scientific audience.
 (23/04/2010)

New EIS Nugget

Large X-ray jet simultaneously observed by SUMER, EIS, XRT and EUVI Ahead and Behind by Maria Madjarska is the title of the new EIS Nugget for April. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/04/2011)
Seminar

Prof. Louise Harra gave a seminar entitled "A new view of the Sun from Hinode" at the University of Leicester.  (31/03/2011)
Discovering the Universe

Prof. Louise Harra gave a public lecture entitled "Mapping the Sun" as part of the St. Patrick's Day celebration organized by Armagh Observatory.  (18/03/2011)
UCL lecture

Prof. Louise Harra gave a public lecture entitled "The Sun and ... the end of the world ?" in which she discussed the impact of the unusual period of low solar activity and show how the Sun is emerging out from its slumber .  (12/03/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Full Sun monochromatic images by Ignacio Ugarte-Urra and Harry Warren is the title of the new EIS Nugget for March. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/03/2011)
Valentine's Day Solar Flare

The Sun erupted on 14 February and emitted the first X-class flare since December 2006. The solar activity corresponding to the new Solar Cycle 24 is expected to increase in the upcoming months.  (15/02/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Determining the source of magnetic cloud using a velocity difference method by Louise Harra is the title of the new EIS Nugget for February. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/02/2011)
New EIS Nugget

Sensitivity Performance of the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode by Geroge Doscheck is the title of the new EIS Nugget for January. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (15/01/2011)
Stargazing Live

Lucie Green features on Episode 2 of BBC's Stargazing astronomy series. Lucie talks about the Sun and the Hinode EIS telescope to study flows in the solar atmosphere. View the online BBC webpage.  (15/01/2011)
Congratulations to Deborah Baker

Deb has just been awarded a Ph.D. for her thesis entitled "Drivers of Solar Coronal Dynamics" (24/12/2010)
New EIS Nugget

EIS observations of a sigmoidal active region by Lucie Green is the title of the new EIS Nugget for December. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/12/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Spectroscopic analysis of an EIT wave/dimming observed by Hinode/EIS by Feng Chen n is the title of the new EIS Nugget for November. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/11/2010)
Portsmouth and District Physical Societies lecture series

Prof. Louise Harra gave a lecture on "The Sun's Current Activity and How it Affects Us" at the Portsmouth Physical Society. Louise described the mininum in the context of historical solar activity, observations now available of the Sun and recent discoveries.  (21/10/2010)
Hinode 4 Meeting

MSSL solar group participated actively in the Hinode-4 Meeting: unsolved problems and recent insights held in Palermo, Italy (10-15 October 2010).
    Oral Contributions
  • Dr. Lucie Green: Multi-wavelength obervations of solar eruptions (Keynote talk opening the session on Flares, eruptions and particle acceleration.)
  • Prof. Louise Harra:The role of the boundaries of CH and AR in the initiation of the solar wind (Keynote talk opening the session on Solar wind and the interplanetary space.)
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Connections between corona and heliosphere (Invited talk))
  • Poster Contributions Prof. Len Culhane, Deborah Baker, Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Observation of Interacting Coronal Holes and Active Regions in January, 2008 and the Resulting Effects on the Solar Wind Flow.
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez: Small-scale convective vortex flow in the solar photosphere.
  • Dr. David Williams: New measurements of the solar coronal density with EIS.
  • Dr. David Williams: Pre-flare ion acceleration in active regions by slow reconnection (in collaboration with Ed Lee from KU Leuven).
 (16/10/2010)

Solar group has UK Top 10 Young Scientist
Congratulations to Dr. Lucie Green who was named one of the top 10 UK scientist under 40 in Eureka, The Times' monthly science magazine. The Eureka 100 list celebrate the publication's first anniversary and is a guide to the most influential contemporary scientific figures in Britain. The list was compiled by a specialist panel, including academics and science journalists.
 (08/10/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Bright point observations (testing our bright point trigger) by Peter Young is the title of the new EIS Nugget for October. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/10/2010)
RIA/RAS meeting

On 23 and 24 September, scientists gathered at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) for a specialist discussion meeting on transient phenomena in the universe. Prof. Louise Harra gave a talk entitled "Activity from the Sun" in the Solar Transients and the Sun-Earth Connection session.  (24/09/2010)
Solar Plasma Spectroscopy Conference

The conference celebrating the career of Dr. Helen Mason was held at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Cambridge (September 13-15 2010). Prof. Len Culhane gave a talk entitled "The role of XUV and Soft X-ray observations in understanding the solar corona". Prof. Louise Harra contributed also with the talk "Using spectroscopy to understand the source of coronal mass ejections"  (15/09/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Multi-wavelength observations of small-scale reconnection events triggered by magnetic flux emergence, by Salvo Guglielmino and Santiago Vargas Dominguez is the title of the new EIS Nugget for September. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/09/2010)
Solar activity rising up

On 1 August the Sun erupted and sent a charged cloud into space, reaching our planet along the week. Solar group members report on this issue on media. Click on the numbers to read more on the articles featuring Dr. Len Culhane (1), Dr. Lucie Green (1,2) and Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez (1,spanish version only).  (04/08/2010)
Out of this world at MSSL

The open day is approaching (5th September). It will provide many opportunities for the public to engage with scientist and students undertaking research at our lab. Some members of the solar group, in special Kimberley Steed, participate actively organising the event. Click here for more info. (01/08/2009)
New EIS Nugget

Preparing EIS data using neural networks, by Suguro Kamio is the title of the new EIS Nugget for August. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/08/2010)
COSPAR 2010

MSSL solar group participated actively in the 38th COSPAR scientific assembly in Bremen, Germany (18-25 July 2010).
    Sessions organized by members of our group
  • Prof. Len Culhane and Prof. Louise Harra: Flows in Solar magnetic Structures STEREO and HINODE.
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Multi-spacecraft observations and modelling of CMEs and stream interaction regions
  • Oral Contributions
  • Deborah Baker and Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Magnetic reconnection along QSLs - a major driver of active region outflows.
  • Prof. Louise Harra: An overview of the solar corona during the recent solar minimum and prospective for the new solar cycle.
  • Prof. Louise Harra: What coronal dimming regions can tell us about CMEs ? New results from HINODE.
  • Dr. Chuan Li, Dr. Sarah Matthews and Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Coronal magnetic topology and the solar source of beam-like electron events".
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: EIT/Coronal waves and coronal dimming: a holistic approach. (Review Talk)
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi, Prof. Len Culhane and Deborah Baker: Interacting active regions and coronal holes: implications for coronal outflows and solar wind structure.
 (23/07/2010)

Studying the Sun at UCL

MSSL is heavily involved in the design of a proposed space mission to study the Sun in unprecedented detail, the Solar Orbiter mission. The main UCL website links to a video in which Prof. Louise Harra explains some interesting facts about our closest star. Click here.  (21/07/2010)
A New Generation of UK Space Exploration

The RAS meeting organized by Dr. Lucie Green, Dr. Colin Forsyth and Dr. David Williams was a follow up to the UKSP/MIST Missions Forum held at this year's National Astronomy Meeting. Dr. Sarah Matthews and Dr. David Williams prepared one of the presented proposals for an M-Class mission to study the plasma coupling and energetics in the solar atmosphere.  (14/07/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Response of the corona to the emergence of "serpentine" magnetic field, by Prof. Louise Harra is the title of the new EIS Nugget for July. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/07/2010)
UCL Honoray Fellow - Prof. Saku Tsuneta

Prof. Saku Tsuneta, Director of the Hinode Science Center, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan was awarded UCL Honorary Fellow. For more information including a video of the ceremony click here.  (17/06/2010)
Solarfest 2010

Dr. David Williams gave a public lecture entitled "The Power of the Sun" as one of the activities programmed for the SolarFest 2010 in Dublin, organized by the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies.  (13/06/2010)
The Cheltenham Science Festival

Dr. Lucie Green took part in the 2010 edition of the Cheltenham Science Festival. Lucie gave a lecture on Solar Science exploring how we monitor the Sun and how it can impact us on Earth. She also contributed on the Question Time panel discussion with the Science Minister David Willetts about the future of UK science.  (12/06/2010)
Talking at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Dr. David Williams gave a seminar at the Centre for Plasma Astrophysics (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) entitled "Non-thermal motions: how the sun's atmosphere responds to coronal restructuring before it happens".  (02/06/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Velocity Characteristics of Evaporated Plasma, by Ryan Milligan, GSFC is the title of the new EIS Nugget for June. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/06/2010)
Talking at Lebedev Institute

Prof. Louise Harra gave a talk in Moscow at the Lebedev Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences entitled "EUV spectroscopy from Hinode".  (17/05/2010)
Opticon1826

The spring issue of the UCL academic journal Opticon1826 presents an image gallery including a photograph taken by Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez in one of his trips to pursue solar observations. Click on the image for more details.  (10/05/2010)
New EIS Nugget

EIS observations of pre-flare activity, by Alison Wallace is the title of the new EIS Nugget for May. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/05/2010)
RAS National Astronomy Meeting 2010

MSSL solar group participated actively in the 2010 NAM in Glasgow (12-16 April 2010).
    Parallel Sessions organized by our group
  • Dr. Colin Forsyth: 10 years of Cluster - the past present and future multi-point measurements of space plasmas.
  • Alison Wallace: New views of solar active regions from Hinode and STEREO.
  • Dr. David Williams, Prof. Louise Harra and Dr. Colin Forsyth: UKSP/MIST missions forum.
  • Kimberley Steed: Solar influences in the heliosphere.
  • Oral Contributions
  • Prof. Len Culhane: Plasma motions and magnetic reconnection heating in the 2007, May flare.
  • Dr. Colin Forsyth: Multi-spacecraft observations of auroral electron acceleration by Cluster.
  • Dr. Lucie Green: What can Hinode observations tell us about eruptions from sigmoidal active regions.
  • Dr. Lucie Green: Outreach during International Heliophysical Year.
  • Dr. Sarah Matthews: Coronal signatures of a sunspot light-bridge.
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi: Are the imprints of hot plasma outflows from active regions in the solar wind ?
  • Alison Wallace: Does magnetic helicity affect active reegion evolution and energetics ?
  • Alison Wallace: Challenges of public engagement with children in care.
  • Dr. Sergei Zharkov: Evidence of magneto-acoustic waves in photospheric observations of a sunspot.
  • Poster Contributions
  • Dr. Chuan Li: Coronal magnetic topology and the solar source of major SEP events ?
  • Robert O'Neil: Relationship between magnetic field and coronal outflows in active regions.
  • Ehsam Pedram: A survey of HRX emission of seismically active and quiet X-class white-light flares.
  • Kimberley Steed: Investigating the observational signatures of magnetic cloud sub-structure.
  • Dr. Jian Sun: Hinode unveils a new Sun.
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez: Convective plasma around solar pores.
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez: The Solar-C space mission.
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi, Deb Baker et al: Magnetic reconnection along QSLs - a major driver of active region outflows
 (19/04/2010)

NAM poster competition

Dr Santiago Vargas Dominguez was awarded the 1st poster prize (UKSP/MIST) at the NAM meeeting 2010 in Glasgow. The poster entitled "Convective plasma around solar pores" describes the analysis of proper motions around these photospheric magnetic structures based on ground-based and satellite data.  (14/04/2010)
Public Lecture in Astronomy (Glasgow)

Dr Lucie Green and Prof. John Brown (Astronomy Royal for Scotland) gave a public lecture entitled "The magic of the Sun and stars" as part of the events during the NAM 2010 in Glasgow. The talk explored the wonders of our own Sun and countless other stars throughout the universe.  (13/04/2010)
Magnetic "ropes" tie down solar eruptions

A press release at NAM by Dr. Lucie Green, Dr. Bernhard Kliem and Alison Wallace describes the use of Hinode spacecraft data to reveal new details of the formation of an immense magnetic structure that erupted to poduce a CME on the 7th December 2007. Click here for more information.  (12/04/2010)
Talking at Hansa Gymnasium

Prof. Louise Harra gave a talk in Hamburg at the Hansa Symnasium entitled "Solar Physics and a career in space science".  (11/04/2010)
New EIS Nugget

Interchange reconnection along a coronal hole boundary ?, by Deborah Baker is the title of the new EIS Nugget for April. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/04/2010)
Flux Emergence Workshop

The workshop organized by Dr. Lucie Green, Prof. Louise Harra and Dr. David Williams was held at MSSL from 22nd to 26th March. 21 participants discussed and analyzed data in order to progress our understanding of the physics of flux emergence from the theoretical and observational points of view.  (26/03/2010)
New EIS Nugget

The Weird and Wonderful World of Widths, by Dr. David Williams is the title of the new EIS Nugget for March. Click here for more information about this new issue.  (01/03/2010)
EIS Team Meeting (23-24 Feb)

28 participants, as part of the Hinode EIS core team, discussed on technical and scientific issues related to the EIS instrument. Major contributions from the MSSL Solar Group came from:
  • Prof. Louise Harra and Dr. David Williams
  • Coordination, ideas, discussions and action items.
  • Prof. Len Culhane
  • Proposal submissions. Leading the discussion about future plans based on what we have achieved so far with EIS observations.
  • Dr. Lucie Green
  • Hinode EIS-related outreach activities, EIS nuggets.
  • Jian Sun
  • On how to extract more information from EIS 40" slot image data
 (24/02/2010)

Inaugural Lecture - Prof. George Doschek

Prof. George Dosheck, head of the Solar Terrestrial Relationships Branch at the Naval Research Laboratory, gave his first lecture as an honorary prof at UCL. An introduction by the Dean of the Faculty Richard Catlow and Prof. Len Culhane took place before George's lecture.  (22/02/2010)
Cold winters & solar activity

Dr. Michael Lockwood from University of Reading & Space Science and Technology Department, STFC/Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, gave us a talk to answer the question: Are cold winters in the UK associated with low solar activity ?. For more details click here (MSSL access only).  (17/02/2010)
SDO launches

The Solar Dynamics Observatory has been succesfully launched from Cape Canaveral. It was designed to acquire detailed images of the Sun to explain variations on its activity. A BBC news article describes some of the issues from this mission. For details go to the NASA site.  (12/02/2010)
Sat-nav devices face big errors as solar activity rises

BBC news article, about the current awakening of the Sun after a period of low activity that could generate unpredictable sat-nav errors, features Prof. Louise Harra. Louise explains how the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will look at the Sun's magnetic field.  (10/02/2010)
4th HELAS International Conference

The conference was held from 1-5 February, 2010 in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) and covered topics in helio- and asteroseismology, with special focus on the latest observational projects. Dr. Sergei Zharkov gave a presentation entitled "Evidence of magneto-acoustic waves in photospheric observations of a sunspot".  (07/02/2010)
Dr Ineke De Moortel visit

Dr Ineke De Moortel from University of St Andrews visited MSSL during the first week of February to collaborate with Dr. David Williams. She gave us a talk in our solar group seminar entitled "3D Numerical Simulations of Transverse Coronal Loop Oscillations".  (05/02/2010)
Launch of Hinode/EIS nuggets

The EIS Flare Catalogue and Demo created by Jian Sun inaugurates the release of the EIS nuggets.  (01/02/2010)
3 years of Science from Hinode

Prof. Louise Harra gave a presentation at MSSL looking back at three years of science from the Hinode satellite successfully launched in 2006. Louise presented an overview of the achievements of the EIS instrument, alongside SOT and XRT, which has performed brilliantly.  (16/12/2009)
MSSL Solar & Stellar Group at the 3rd Hinode Science Meeting (1-4 Dec)

A total of five oral presentations and contributions to posters, as follows:
    Oral Presentations:
  • Deb Baker (Identifying the main driver of active region outflows)
  • Dr. Lucie Green (What can EIS observations tell us about eruptions from sigmoidal active regions ?)
  • Prof. Louise Harra (The slow solar wind: from formation on the Sun to the Earth)
  • Dr. Sarah Matthews (Seismic response of 14 december 2006 white-light flare)
  • Alison Wallace (Does magnetic helicity affect active region evolution and energetics?)
  • Poster Contributions:
  • Dr. Sarah Matthews (Sunspot light-bridges - a bridge between the photosphere and the corona ?)
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez Poster1:(Observations of vortex motion in the solar photosphere using HINODE and SST data), Poster2: Structure of small magnetic elements in the solar atmosphere.
  • Dr. David Williams (Active region non-thermality; the role of perspective)
  • Dr. Sergei Zharkov (Investigating(sub)-photospheric properties of coronal holes)
 (04/12/2009)

RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting

At the Royal Astronomical Society Meeting "Solar magnetic fields and the dynamic sun" celebrating the career of Prof. E.R. Priest, Prof Louise Harra gave a presentation entitled "Response of the solar atmosphere to the emergence serpentine magnetic field" and Allison Wallace presented a poster on "The influence of counter-helicity on active region evolution".  (13/10/2009)
Solar winds triggered by magnetic fields

Solar wind generated by the sun is probably driven by a process involving powerful magnetic fields, according to the recent study led by Deb Baker and based on observations from the Hinode satellite.  (02/11/2009)
Welcome to Robert H. O'Neil

Robert is a new student at MSSL, working on the slow solar wind in the Solar & Stellar Physics Group under the supervision of Prof. Louise Harra.  (02/10/2009)
Solar-Terrestrial Physics Summer School (Sep 13-18)

The Solar & Stellar Physics Group, together with UCL's Physics & Astronomy and Atmospheric Physics Laboratory are organising this year's SFCT introductory Summer School for PhD students. Dr. Sarah Matthews and Deb Baker are part of the organising committee from MSSL. Programme of Lectures includes Dr. Lucie Green's talk titled "Emergence and evolution of magnetic flux in the solar athmosphere" and Prof. Len Culhane's talk titled "Observing from space - an overview". (14/09/2009)
MSSL Open Day was held on 5th September 2009

As part of the British Science Festival taking place each September and hosted in Guildford this year, the MSSL opened doors for an afternoon of talks and workshops. As part of them, Prof. Louise Harra gave a presentation titled "The Sun and its effect on Earth's climate" and Dr. Lucie Green organised some of the activities for the families. (06/09/2009)
Congratulations to Dr. Lucie Green

Lucie has been awarded the pretigious Royal Society Kohn award for her work enganging a diverse audience with science. The award recognizes her leadership in building up a first-class programme of engagement, communication and outreach projects at MSSL over ten years.  (24/08/2009)
IAU General Assembly

The XXVII International Astronomical Union General Assembly is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Aug 3-14).
Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi is the Vice-President of the Division II Comission 10 Solar Activity. The IAU Symposium No.264 (Coordinating Division II) will discuss on Solar and Stellar Variability Impact on Earth and Planets.
 (05/08/2009)
BBC news article "Asia watches long solar eclipse" features Dr. Lucie Green

Lucie describes how scientists will be able to use the eclipse to look for signs of waves in the Sun's corona and these waves importance in explaining the mystery of why the corona is so hot. View the online BBC article.  (22/07/2009)
Hoping to Witness the Solar Eclipse are Prof. Len Culhane and Dr. Lucie Green

Len is travelling to Suzhou in China in order to watch the eclipse and will give a presentation titled "Formation, Interaction and Merger of Active Region and Quiescent Filaments with Eruption on 19th May, 2007" at the succeeding The Dynamic Solar Corona Conference. Lucie will be the resident solar physicist on board a cruise boat heading out into the Pacific Ocean to the point of longest totallity, an estimated six and a half minutes. Whilst on board she will give a series of three lectures about astronomy.  (20/07/2009)
Dr. Lucie Green counters the lunar-landing conspiracy theories on BBC's The One Show

Lucie was interviewed by tv presenter Matt Allwright for the program's moon special, celebrating 40 years of man setting foot on the lunar surface. The program was aired on Friday 17th July 2009 and can be viewed on the BBC's iPLayer website.  (17/07/2009)
BBC Radio 4's Material World interviews Prof. Ken Phillips and Dr. Lucie Green

Ahead of the solar eclipse, Ken describes his experiences of viewing previous solar eclipses and Lucie explains why this solar eclipse will provide the longest period of totallity for 120 years to come. This interview can be listened to on the BBC's iPLayer website.  (16/07/2009)
MSSL lead the way at the EIS UK Meeting 2009

The two-day EIS UK Meeting was organised and chaired by MSSL's Dr. David Williams and Prof. Louise Harra. The first morning was concerned with updates and discussion of EIS's status and operation and was lead by David. Of the 18 oral science contributions, six were given by members of the MSSL Solar & Stellar Physics group
  • Prof. Louise Harra (Science results from EIS - what we expected, what we've got, and what we will get!)
  • Prof. Len Culhane (
  • EIS Observations of Plasma Turbulence and Velocity
  • Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi (Formation of a dimming region after a CME)
  • Deb Baker (Magnetic reconnection along QSLs as a driver of active region outflows)
  • Dr. Sarah Matthews (Dynamics of a sunspot light-bridge - a bridge between the photosphere and the corona?)
  • Dr. Santiago Vargas Dominguez (A sneak peek at data from Sunrise)
 (08/07/2009)

Explorers of the Universe

Prof. Louise Harra has been selected as one of 50 leading scientists to be photographed by Max Alexander. Her portrait will be exhibited in London along side Sir Patrick Moore, Prof. Martin Rees and Prof. Andy Fabian.  (23/06/2009)
Engaging with PhD Students and Postdocs on Hinode/EIS Day at the SOLAIRE SODAS

SOLAIRE's Solar Observational Data Analysis School, held at the University of Glasgow, gave students and postdocs hands on-experience analysing data produced by some of the instuments aboard various solar satellites. Dr. David Williams lead the Hinode/EIS day of the school, covering the reduction and generation of data products.  (04/06/2009)

Congratulations to Kimberley Steed

Kimberley has been elected to the UK Solar Physics Council as the PhD student representative. The Council is responsible for representing the interests of the UK community and ensuring the promotion of UK Solar Physics science.  (01/06/2009)
3rd Solar Oribiter Workshop Presentation by Prof. Louise Harra

At the 3rd Solar Orbiter Workshop in Sorrento, Italy, Louise gave a presentation titled "Explore, at all latitudes, the energetics, dynamics and finescale structure of the Sun's magnetized atmosphere".  (26/05/2009)
Welcome to Dr. Sergei Zharkov & Dr. Santiago Vargas Domínguez

Sergei & Santiago are new research fellows at MSSL, working in the Solar & Stellar Physics Group. Sergei joins us from the University of Sheffield and Santiago from the IAC, Tenerife.  (18/05/2009)
Congratulations to Alison Wallace

Alison has been awarded one of UCL's ten highly competed for postgradaute bursaries to attend the Times Cheltenham Science Festival in June. This year's theme is "Heresy", with contributions by Prof. Robert Winston, Dr. Alice Roberts and Carol Vorderman.  (8/05/2009)
STEREO-3/SOHO-22 Workshop Presentations by Prof. Len Culhane, Kimberley Steed, Dr. Lucie Green & Deb Baker

At this first joint STEREO and SOHO workshop, Len & Kimberley gave oral presentations titled "Formation, Interaction and Merger of Active Region and Quiescent Filaments prior to Eruption on 19 May, 2007" and "Flux rope eruption from the Sun to the Earth? What do reversals in the azimuthal magnetic field gradient tell us about the evolution of the magnetic structure?", respectively. Lucie & Deb presented posters titled "Evolution of sigmoidal active regions and in situ formation of flux ropes in the solar atmosphere" and "Interplanetary Signatures of Interchange Reconnection: STEREO, ACE and Hinode Data Combined", respectively.  (27/04/2009)
BBC news article "Quiet Sun baffling astronomers" features Prof. Louise Harra

During the 2009 JENAM/UKSP/MIST Meeting, Louise was asked to comment on the current quiet state of the Sun by the BBC. View the online BBC article with video.  (21/04/2009)
MSSL Solar & Stellar Group at the 2009 JENAM/UKSP/MIST Meeting

A total of seven oral presentations and one poster presentation were given by various members of the group, with "The Unusual(?) Solar Minimum" joint UKSP & MIST session chaired by Dr. Sarah Matthews. Presentations were given by
  • Dr. Michelle Murray (Demystifying Active Region Outflows detected by Hinode's EIS using Numerical SImulations)
  • Deb Baker (Interchange reconnection signatures in the solar wind linked to eruption from an active region inside a coronal hole)
  • Dr. Chuan Li (Investigation of acceleration source of themajor SEP event on 13 December 2006)
  • Dr. Colin Forsyth (Effects of Current System Scale Size and Location on the Curlometer)
  • Kimberley Steed (Flux Rope Eruption From the Sun to the Earth: What do reversals in the azimuthal magnetic field gradient tell us about the evolution of magnetic structures?)
  • Prof. Louise Harra (Hinode & Solar-C)
  • Dr. Sarah Mathews (Anatomy of a solar flare - corona to the photopshere and beneath?)
  • Ehsan Pedran (Origin of Sun-Quakes)
 (20/04/2009)
IOP in Ireland's Spring Meeting Presentation by Prof. Louise Harra

At the spring meeting of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in Ireland, Louise gave a presentation titled "From exploring the Sun to probing the heart". View the online article from the Irish Time reporting on her presentation.  (04/04/2009)
Congratulations to Dr. Lidia van Driel-Gesztelyi

Lidia has been elected as President of International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission 10 (Solar Activity) for the period 2009-2012.  (25/03/2009)
Congratulations to Prof. Ken Phillips

Ken, now Visiting Professor at the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, has been awarded the Gold Medal of the University of Wroclaw, Poland for collaboration with the Astronomical Observatory at the University over the past 12 years.  (24/03/2009)
RAS Meeting Presentations by Alison Wallace & Prof. Louise Harra

At the RAS Discussion Meeting "Solar Flares: 150 years on from the 'Carrington' Event", Alison & Louise gave presentations titled "Coronal response to emerging flux" and "The Solar-C space mission - a follow-on to the Hinode mission", respectively.  (13/03/2009)
House of Commons Visit by Kimberley Steed

Kimberley was selected to take part in the SET for Britain event at the Houses of Parliament. She presented her work on space weather determining the source region of a coronal mass ejection. Kimberley also discussed her experience in the weekly UCL news podcast.  (09/03/2009)
Congratulations to Dr. Lucie Green

Lucie has been awarded the Elizabeth Puchnarewicz Award for her outstanding contribution to public outreach. Since her return to MSSL in 2005, Lucie has organised and run numerous public events to promote the science of the lab, including MSSL's 40th Anniversary Open Day.  (15/12/2008)
Welcome to Dr. Colin Forsyth & Dr. Chuan Li

Colin & Chuan are new research fellows at MSSL, working on areas of science linking the Solar & Stellar Physics and the Space Plasma Groups. Colin joins us from the University of Leicester and Chuan was previously at the Nanjing University and Paris XI University.  (01/11/2008)
Congratulations to Gemma Attrill

Gemma has just been awarded a Ph.D. for her thesis entitled "Low Coronal Signatures of Coronal Mass Ejections: Coronal 'Waves' and Dimmings". Gemma will join the Solar and Stellar X-Ray Group working on SDO/AIA instruments at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics soon.  (01/09/2008)

Visit the News Archive for older news items.


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