Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Ballroom B/C/D
Start Date
21-5-2015
End Date
21-5-2015
Keywords
Astrophysiscs, Solar Phyiscs, Sigmoid
Abstract
This project’s purpose was to study how the speed at which the plasma in the photosphere of the sun affects the lifetime and shape of a solar sigmoid. Solar sigmoids are S-shaped, twisted magnetic structures that are due to the shifting magnetic field lines emerging from the surface of the sun. The photosphere is the visible layer of the sun’s surface and is made up of cells of plasma that are highly conductive and influenced by the magnetic field of the sun. Sigmoids form when shearing (a lateral shift between two objects in directions opposite each other) occurs in the photosphere plasma, causing ropes of magnetic flux to break and reconnect in S shapes. I predicted that when higher velocity shearing occurs in this plasma, solar sigmoid structures will be stretched out and as a result be less stable, extending just above the surface of the sun, and at a lower shearing velocity a sigmoid will stay stable longer and be able to extend much further above the surface of the sun. The shear velocity of the photosphere at the base of the sigmoid was measured using the physics-based Tracker software, which takes user-uploaded videos and helps measure changes in position of an object within the video. This project was carried out using the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to retrieve magnetogram time lapse data and both partial and full solar view time-lapse data.
Recommended Citation
Stone, Austen, "Predicting Solar Sigmoid Lifetimes Based on Shearing in the Photosphere" (2015). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 49.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2015/posters/49
Poster Number
59
Department/Program
Physics
Additional Mentoring Department
Physics
Predicting Solar Sigmoid Lifetimes Based on Shearing in the Photosphere
SURC Ballroom B/C/D
This project’s purpose was to study how the speed at which the plasma in the photosphere of the sun affects the lifetime and shape of a solar sigmoid. Solar sigmoids are S-shaped, twisted magnetic structures that are due to the shifting magnetic field lines emerging from the surface of the sun. The photosphere is the visible layer of the sun’s surface and is made up of cells of plasma that are highly conductive and influenced by the magnetic field of the sun. Sigmoids form when shearing (a lateral shift between two objects in directions opposite each other) occurs in the photosphere plasma, causing ropes of magnetic flux to break and reconnect in S shapes. I predicted that when higher velocity shearing occurs in this plasma, solar sigmoid structures will be stretched out and as a result be less stable, extending just above the surface of the sun, and at a lower shearing velocity a sigmoid will stay stable longer and be able to extend much further above the surface of the sun. The shear velocity of the photosphere at the base of the sigmoid was measured using the physics-based Tracker software, which takes user-uploaded videos and helps measure changes in position of an object within the video. This project was carried out using the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to retrieve magnetogram time lapse data and both partial and full solar view time-lapse data.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Darci Snowden