Solar Physics
News
Turbulence in the Sun’s corona
Solar wind is a never-ending stream of charged particles coming from the Sun. Rather than a constant breeze, this wind is rather gusty. As solar wind particles travel through space, they interact with the Sun's variable magnetic field, creating chaotic and fluctuating...
Solar Orbiter closes in on the solution to a 65-year-old solar mystery
A cosmic alignment and a little bit of spacecraft gymnastics has provided a ground-breaking measurement that is helping solve the 65-year-old cosmic mystery of why the Sun’s atmosphere is so hot.
How a solar switchback is formed
Solar Orbiter has made the first ever remote sensing observation of a magnetic phenomenon called a solar ‘switchback’, proving their origin in the solar surface and pointing to a mechanism that might help accelerate the solar wind.
First paper about SunDish project out now!
Link to the SUNDISH project
The Sun as you’ve never seen it before
Powerful flares, breathtaking views across the solar poles, and a curious solar ‘hedgehog’ are amongst the haul of spectacular images, movies and data returned by Solar Orbiter from its first close approach to the Sun. Although the analysis of the new dataset has only just started, it is already clear that the ESA-led mission is providing the most extraordinary insights into the Sun’s magnetic behaviour and the way this shapes space weather.
Solar Orbiter crosses the Earth-Sun line as it heads for the Sun
The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft is speeding towards its historic first close pass of the Sun. On 14 March, the spacecraft will pass the orbit of Mercury, the scorched inner planet of our Solar System, and on 26 March it will reach closest approach to the Sun.
Personnel
Alfio Bonanno, Lidia Contarino, Pierfrancesco Costa, Fabio Del Sordo, Fabiana Ferrente, Salvatore L. Guglielmino, Paolo Romano, Daniele Spadaro, Rita Ventura
Contatti
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania
Via Santa Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italia
(+39) 095.7332111
segreteria.direzione.oact@inaf.it
(PEC): inafoacatania@pcert.postecert.it
Per informazioni sul nostro sito: web.oact@inaf.it
Per informazioni sulla didattica e divulgazione: divulgazione.oact@inaf.it