by Samuel Rayas
Before I start, this project can be found on Zooniverse and will be under the category of projects next you will be able to: track the completion of the project, learn more about the project, and start helping out. To offer an overview of what the project entails it can be explained in a few short paragraphs- sorry- and this will help you understand the importance and science behind the project. Before I start, just remember that anyone and I mean anyone can help out in this project whether you are young or old your help will contribute to the progress made by scientist.
Now here comes the many answers that will answer the many questions you have, firstly what is a solar storm ? A solar storm is both a solar flare and CME ( Coronal Mass Eruption), although both don’t always manifest at the same time, and they occur due to amassed magnetic energy suddenly being released. Typically they occur on sunspots where the local magnetic field is very strong. Now then, let’s move onto the second question which is, Why are these solar storms so important ? To start, these solar storms are important because if one were to hit earth “ it could knock out electricity grids, satellite navigation and communication for days, weeks or even months” (Solar Storm Team, 1) and it is a known fact that as the human race progresses we are relying more heavily on these technologies and we’d be at a loss.
Moving on since you know more about solar storms and why they are important lets go over some of the science, and how exactly we are going to help Shannon Jones, Chris Scott, and Julia Wilkinson carry out their research. Thanks to images from NASA STEREO spacecraft we can observe these images of solar storms as they erupt and begin to identify them. Some solar storms appear more complex in contrast to the simple ones; some appear full of twist in turns while others are relatively flat and have no texture. Why we are observing these is because it might hold clues into how the earth is affected by the storms, but also their potential impact on the earth and in the end give people who are in charge of running our communications and power more time to prepare for the impacts of a potent solar storm.
Lastly is how you can help and why your help is needed. What adds onto the challenging part is that not only does the magnetic field from the sun shootout solar flares and CMEs but it also affects the solar winds which makes it to form complex shapes. All these others factors make predicting the arrival of a solar storm even more difficult as there are an abundant amount of things in the way when all were trying to look at are the solar storms. Also relating to this is a need to understand how exactly solar winds and magnetic fields affect clouds of solar matter as it would make predicting a solar storm much easier. Moving away from the nitty gritty comes the task which is identifying how the solar storms appear, either simple or complex. Solar storms may appear like bubbles or a broken light bulb, and these two mental images can help you in identifying which storm is which. Computers are bad at identifying the complexities of these storms so thats why your help is needed. Thanks for listening and I hope this debrief helped in your understanding and maybe sparked an interest in helping out the project.
Adler Astro-Journalists 