Recent News Summary

General News/UKSP Business

Nuggets

Meetings/Workshops/Summer Schools

Jobs/Studentships

General News/UKSP Business

  • UK Solar Missions Forum 2023 – Request for Community Input
    Dear Colleagues, For many years, a short meeting known as the UK Solar Missions Forum was held yearly to discuss current and future ground and space-based instrumentation projects and bring together different representatives from our community, STFC panels and UKSA. After a break due to Covid, we want to organise such a meeting in 2023. The meeting will be organised by the UKSP Council and led by Professor Richard Harrison (RAL). We hope we can use the time to discuss: – Projects in operation – Projects in development – Horizon scanning future projects – Strategy/planning/updates from UKSA/STFC We propose that the name of the meeting is changed to ‘UK Solar Instrumentation and Facilities Forum’ to account for all categories we may discuss, including ground and space-based missions (collaborations with e.g., NASA, ESA), as well as new opportunities such as CubeSat development and the opportunities arising for our field with the construction of UK spaceports. Also, we propose that the meeting could be held as part of a two-day hybrid workshop (1-day for the UK Solar Instrumentation and Facilities Forum and 1-day for a UKSP specialist discussion meeting that promotes the work of early career researchers in the UK). To organise the meeting, we would value input from the community about e.g., the best time, location and format of the meeting via a very short survey: https://forms.gle/5X8Jm9cEtPqAm73N9 If possible, please complete the survey by December 15th. Other comments and suggestions can also be added to the survey form (last box). Kind regards, UKSP Chair on behalf of Richard Harrison and the UKSP Council.
  • sunpy 4.1
    Dear all, The SunPy developers please to announce the latest release of the sunpy core package, version 4.1🎉 Headline new features are: – Extract map values along coordinate paths – Easier reprojecting to Carrington and Stonyhurst coordinates – Drawing the solar equator and prime meridian – Sample data downloaded on demand 📜 The full list of what’s new can be found at https://docs.sunpy.org/en/stable/whatsnew/4.1.html, and the full changelog at https://docs.sunpy.org/en/stable/whatsnew/changelog.html. 🖥 As always, to update pip users can run `pip install -U sunpy` and conda users can run `conda update sunpy`. ❓ If you have any questions, issues, or suggestions, we would love to hear about them on the new SunPy discussion forum at https://community.openastronomy.org/c/sunpy/5. 👏 Finally, we would like to give a shout out to new contributors to sunpy since the release of the previous major version: Akash Verma, Alex Kaszynski, Alex W, Andy Tang, Chris Bard, Daniel Garcia Briseno, Jan Gieseler, Jia Qing, Karthikeyan Singaravelan, Krish Agrawal, Marius Giger, Matt Wentzel-Long, Naveen Srinivasan, Timo Laitinen, William Jamieson, William Russell. 🌏 SunPy is a community powered project, and would not exist without continual input from contributors around the world! Enjoy the new release, David Stansby (on behalf of the SunPy developers)
  • Announcement of Opportunity: Enabling Technologies Programme – Call Two Technology for Space Science
    As part of a joint initiative between UK Space Agency (UKSA) and STFC-UKRI, proposals are sought by UKSA for projects in areas including innovation; innovative technology proof of concept that could result in a significant technological step-change; new technology developments; establishing new academic/industrial research collaborations and feasibility studies targeting emerging disruptive technologies. Both STFC and UKSA are contributing to the cost of this significant scheme – targeted specifically on a limited number of key themes related to fostering the development of technologies required to position the UK for the next generation of space science / astrophysics opportunities. The goal is to repeat this opportunity for other themes and to connect work funded here with follow-on funding via associated initiatives. This an open call and encourages emerging and innovative technology development proposals in space science technologies. Details can be found here: Announcement of Opportunity: Enabling Technologies Programme – Call Two – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Any submissions, within scope of space science technology, are welcome into this call, but we are particularly interested in: 1. innovative and/or emerging technology research and development – proof of concept, feasibility studies targeting emerging disruptive technologies 2. detectors – new ideas for photon capture, at any wavelength, to enabling new science from space instrumentation 3. robotics – enabling remote / autonomous operation of science instrumentation 4. instrumentation/techniques to meet Planetary Protection Protocols for outgoing missions and returned samples; space weather instruments By the end of the project there must be a tangible improvement in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the technology or a demonstration of advancement in approach (engineering method, technical competence etc) that would enable and support space science: We expect proposals to seek to focus on ETP supported maturity levels of TRL 1 to 4, though higher TRL developments will be considered. Awarded Projects must start no later than 28 April 2023 and must have fully completed by 31 May 2024. Grant funding per project is expected to range from £100k to £250k per grant. In exceptional circumstances, UKSA reserve the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available. Applications can be submitted at values within this funding level; however, it should be noted all proposals should clearly demonstrate that they meet the identified TRL levels indicated in the paragraph above. The Scheme is being led by UKSA so enquiries should be via the contacts on the UK.GOV site Colin Vincent, STFC
  • UKSP/MIST List of STFC Introductory Summer School Hosts – Request for Information
    Dear Colleagues, As you know, the STFC Introductory Summer School is held at a different UK institution every year. In the past, the UKSP and MIST councils have compiled a list of potential hosts/bids (over a timeframe of five to ten years). Our lists are coming to an end (2025). Therefore, we ask the communities to email both Natasha Jeffrey (natasha.jeffrey@northumbria.ac.uk) and Jasmine Sandhu (jasmine.k.sandhu@northumbria.ac.uk) if they are planning to bid for the STFC Introductory Summer School in years 2026–2030. Please send your responses by December 1st, 2022. Our respective councils can then provide an updated list of potential hosts/bids. Furthermore, we can help to make sure that the school is being held at different geographical locations around the UK and ensure that the schools are being shared equally amongst solar and MIST institutions. Kind regards, Natasha Jeffrey and Jasmine Sandhu on behalf of the UKSP and MIST councils
  • Deadline of first Solar Orbiter/EUI Guest Investigator Call – New deadline: November 4
    The deadline for proposals to the First Solar Orbiter/EUI Guest Investigator program has been extended till November 4, 2022 (23:59 CET). The proposals should be sent in PDF format to eui@sidc.be, for more information please visit https://www.sidc.be/EUI/GI_program.

Nuggets

  • New UKSP Nugget #124
    124. The independence of kink oscillation periods on noise Periods of decayless kink oscillations of coronal loops are practically unaffected by noise. https://www.uksolphys.org/uksp-nugget/independenceofkinkoscillationperiodsofnoise/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UKSP Nuggets are published on a monthly basis highlighting solar physics research led from the UK. https://www.uksolphys.org/uksp-nuggets/ Peter Wyper and Rahul Sharma ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  • RHESSI Science Nuggets in October 2022
    No. 438, “Effects of Coronal Structures on the Dynamics of the Global Coronal Wave of SOL2017-09-10‎,” by Huidong HU et al.: The amazing global coronal wave of SOL2017-09-10 wrapped around the whole Sun, and displayed transmission and reflection at both polar coronal holes. No. 439, “A Significant Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance Associated with a Massive Gamma-ray Burst”, by Laura HAYES and Peter GALLAGHER: A first SID observed in broad daylight, from a source far far away. We welcome contributions to the RHESSI Nuggets, and the topics may wander some distance away from specifically RHESSI results if they are generally interesting. See http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets for these and others. Comments about specific flares can often be found by searching for their SOLyyyy-mm-dd identifier from this home page.
  • RHESSI Nuggets in September 2022
    No. 437, “KW-Sun: The Konus-Wind Solar Flare Database in Hard X-Ray and Soft Gamma-Ray Ranges,” by Alexandra LYSENKO: An unrivaled hard X-ray and gamma-ray database is entering its third activity maximum. No. 436, “First Detection of Kink Oscillations with Solar Orbiter,” by Sihui ZHONG et al.: SolO sees coronal oscillations as well as AIA can, and even better. No. 435, “Energetic Neutral Hydrogen from Large Solar Flares,” by Glenn MASON: A rediscovered data treasury reveals the occurrence of many flare/CME events producing solar high-energy neutral atoms. We welcome contributions to the RHESSI Nuggets, and the topics may wander some distance away from specifically RHESSI results if they are generally interesting. See http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets for these and others. Comments about specific flares can often be found by searching for their SOLyyyy-mm-dd identifier from this home page.
  • RHESSI Nuggets in July 2022
    No. 432, “Undetected Minority-polarity Flux, Moss, and Coronal Heating,” by Yi-Ming WANG. There’s plenty of room in “unipolar” active regions for both polarities, and there is good evidence for them. No. 433, “Fast Prograde Flows in Solar Active Regions,” by Hugh HUDSON. Unexpected, unpredicted, and not modeled yet – weird flows in hot active-region loops. We welcome contributions to the RHESSI Nuggets, and the topics may wander some distance away from specifically RHESSI results if they are generally interesting. See http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets for these and others. Comments about specific flares can often be found by searching for their SOLyyyy-mm-dd identifier from this home page.
  • Four new RHESSI Science Nuggets
    http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets No. 428, “Solar Hard X-rays with Insight,” by Wei WANG and Ping ZHANG. A spectacular limb flare introduces Insight/HXMT, a new high-energy observational resource. No. 429, “Carl Størmer,” by Hugh HUDSON and Lyndsay FLETCHER. Størmer and the theory of particle trapping in magnetic loops. No. 430, “Sun-as-a-star spectroscopic observations of the line-of-sight velocity of the solar eruption SOL2021-10-28T15:35,” by Yu XU and Hui TIAN. The observation of the full 3D velocity of a CME, for a RHESSI anniversary event. No. 431, “Thermal/non-thermal with MinXSS and RHESSI,” by Shunsaku NAGASAWA. Time-domain studies of improved X-ray spectra reveal a “super-hot” component. We welcome contributions to the RHESSI Nuggets, and the topics may wander some distance away from specifically RHESSI results if they are generally interesting. See http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/wiki/index.php/RHESSI_Science_Nuggets for these and others. Comments about specific flares can often be found by searching for their SOLyyyy-mm-dd identifier from this home page.

Meetings/Workshops/Summer Schools

  • EGU 2023 Energetic Particles Session Announcement
    Dear all, Abstract submission for the EGU 2023 conference is now open and will remain so until Tuesday, 10 January 2023 at 13:00 CET. We are convening a session on ‘Energetic Particles: From the Sun to their Terrestrial and Planetary Impacts’ and we’re welcoming abstract submissions for presentations in the session. If you’re interested in presenting in our session or would like to find out some more information, here’s the link: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/egu23/46336. The conference will run between 23 – 28 April 2023 and is expected to be hybrid again. All the best, Simon Thomas, Nina Dresing, Graeme Marlton & Ross Pallister.
  • RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting: Multi-Dimensional Solar Flare models (deadline extension)
    Meeting Date: 13th January, 2023 Meeting Venue: (Hybrid online and in person) Burlington House, London, UK RAS meeting webpage: https://ras.ac.uk/events-and-meetings/ras-meetings/new-generation-multi-dimensional-2d3d-and-multi-scale-modelling Registration: Open now using the link above! Specialist discussion meetings are free to RAS fellows and £5 (online) or £15 (in-person) for non-fellows. Registration is required whether attending online or in-person. Abstract Submission deadline (extended): Monday 5th December 2022 Abstract submission: email: malcolm.druett@kuleuven.be with: • a correspondence email address • a presentation title • an author list and affiliation details • an abstract • (optional) an image Please keep abstracts to a reasonable length, such as those for journal publications. No hard word limit will be applied. We welcome applicants from the UK, but also around the globe. We encourage applications from early career researchers. We also highly welcome abstracts from members of under-represented groups in the field. If you require early travel planning (e.g. for a UK visa application), please state this in your submission and your abstract can be given early consideration. Chairs: Dr Malcolm Druett (KU Leuven, Belgium), Dr Natasha Jeffrey (Northumbria University, UK) Meeting Abstract: Solar flares are the result of many complex large and small scale plasma processes occurring in the Sun’s atmosphere. Driven by access to the latest generation of High-Performance Computing (HPC) services, higher dimensional models of solar flares are finally becoming feasible and a series of flagship 3D flare simulations have recently been published in high impact journals. Thus, we stand at a key point in time to evaluate and discuss the essential inclusions, assumptions, and simplifications in flare modelling. These will steer models made in the future, in terms of accurately reproducing physics and observational features from the upcoming generation of satellite, and ground-based observatories. In this meeting, we will highlight the fundamental differences in behaviours between higher-dimensional models and their lower dimensional counterparts. We will explore the benefits and drawbacks of different approaches applied in order to make 3D modelling feasible in the current era of computing. To do this, we solicit contributions covering complementary themes, designed to bring together important aspects of comprehensively modelling solar flares in 2D and 3D.
  • Graduate Student & Postdoc Fair on Monday, November 14, 2022
    The Solar Physics Division (SPD) Committee of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will host its annual Graduate Student & Postdoc Fair virtually on Monday, November 14, 2022! The goal of this event is to introduce prospective grad students and postdocs to US-based institutions that teach and/or perform research in solar physics. This virtual event is split into two half-day focus sessions. The earlier session (9 am – 12 pm US Pacific Standard time; 5 – 8 pm UTC) is aimed at prospective graduate students, while the later session (12 – 2 pm US Pacific Standard time; 8 – 10 pm UTC) is directed towards postdoctoral scholars. Last year’s Fair had about 150 early-career participants from the US as well as from international institutions. Both the grad student session and postdoc session are divided into two parts: 1) a series of brief institutional presentations and 2) institutional breakout Q&A discussions. If you are a prospective grad student or postdoc and would like to attend, please register via this Google Form to indicate your interest! We will make sure to contact all those who sign up with details on how to attend. Attention Graduate and Postdoc Program Directors: Please let us know if you will be representing your institution by filling out this form. HELP SPREAD THE WORD! We aim to infuse Solar Physics with fresh perspectives and diversity of thought! The more attendees we have, the brighter the future of our scientific community will be! Share the grad/postdoc interest link above with any and all potential attendees! Thanks for doing your part to support the future of the Solar Physics community! Please contact this year’s Fair Facilitators, Shea Hess-Webber (shessweb@stanford.edu) and Erika Palmerio (epalmerio@predsci.com) if you have further questions.
  • HelioSwarm meeting, Friday 4 November, London
    The UK HelioSwarm community meeting will be held at the Royal Astronomical Society at Burlington House on Friday the 4th of November. The mission PI, deputy PI and Nicola Fox, NASA’s Heliophysics Division Director, will all be present. The agenda is as follows: Session I – Introduction to the HelioSwarm Mission 10:00 Welcome and Logistics (Tim Horbury, Imperial College London, UK) 10:05 NASA HQ Remarks (Nicola Fox, NASA HQ, Washington, DC USA) 10:15 Introduction to HelioSwarm (Harlan Spence, University of New Hampshire, USA) 10:45 HelioSwarm Science Overview (Kristopher Klein, University of Arizona, USA) Session II – HelioSwarm Instrumentation Overview 11:15 Fluxgate Magnetometer (Tim Horbury, Imperial College London, UK) 11:35 Search Coil Magnetometer (Olivier Le Contel, LPP, France) 11:55 Ion Electrostatic Analyzer (Vincent Genot, IRAP, France) – REMOTE 12:15 Faraday Cup (Tony Case, SAO, USA) – REMOTE Lunch Break (12:35 – 14:00) Session III – Contributed Science Presentations 14:00 HelioSwarm and the magnetosphere (Colin Forsyth, MSSL/UCL) 14:25 Observations of Plasma Turbulence from Magnetospheric Multiscale: Insights for Helioswarm (Julia Stawarz, Imperial College London) 15:50 Using Multi-Spacecraft Measurements to Understand MHD and Kinetic-Scale Turbulence (Chris Chen, Queen Mary) 15:15 Magnetic Topology of Actively Evolving and Passively Convecting Structures in the Turbulent Solar Wind (Bogdan Hnat, University of Warwick) 15:40 HelioSwarm and magnetic reconnection: what can we learn? (Jonathan Eastwood, Imperial College London) 16:05 Foreshock and Magnetosheath Transients: Open Questions for a Multi-Point Mission (Heli Hietala, Queen Mary) 16:15 Discussion and closing remarks 16:30 End The meeting will be held in the main lecture theatre at the RAS whose address is: Royal Astronomical Society Burlington House Piccadilly London W1J 0BQ For those who have not been to the RAS before, the entrance is to the left hand side of the square as you come from Piccadilly. Sadly we have no budget at this point so we will not be providing catering, but there are many coffee shops close by along Piccadilly. I hope as many people as possible will come in person so we can have an active discussion about the mission and how it can help the UK science community. For those who cannot attend in person, we will be streaming the meeting via Zoom on the following link: https://imperial-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/95780911595?pwd=cW5PM1B5RlRsOGJpeitkbHljMkxwZz09 Tim Horbury
  • STFC and the Community in a conversation around our future Net Zero priorities – RSVP 9th November 2022
    Dear Colleagues You are invited to join STFC and the Community in a conversation around our future Net Zero priorities. Whether your field is astronomy, solar and planetary science, particle physics, particle astrophysics, nuclear physics, accelerator science or computational science – this event is for you. Full details, including how to register, can be found in the link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stfc-in-conversation-tickets-440909982627 When: Thursday 24 November, 09:30 – 16:00 (registration from 09:15) Where: STFC Daresbury Laboratory • Invited speakers will help to shape the conversation by offering fascinating insight from real world case studies, which are driving Net Zero. • Following this, time will be available for you and your colleagues to consider Net Zero in the context of your own research and project groups. • There will also be plenty of time for informal networking over refreshments and lunch. Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues in your networks who you think will be interested in joining us. Numbers are limited by venue capacity so please RSVP by 9 November 2022 If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at stakeholders@stfc.ukri.org With best wishes, Valerie Farr Stakeholder Engagement Manager Science and Technology Facilities Council

Jobs/Studentships

  • Kyoto University, Astronomical Observatory –Postdoctoral Position
    Just to bring to everyone in the UKSP community’s attention the following jobs available in Kyoto. Sorry for the large number of details, there doesn’t seem to be a website I can just link you to. There are 3 Postdoctoral researcher posts available at the Astronomical Observatory, Kyoto University for people to work at one of Okayama Observatory, Hida Observatory or based in Kyoto University to work on either instrumentation, solar or stellar observations, or astrophysical MHD. Applicants should send as a pdf file by e-mail to application@kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp with “Subject:” of “Application for Postdoctoral fellow” the following documents: (a) A cover letter with information on the applicant’s name, contact address, applying position, preferable working location, (b) CV (If you have taken a leave(s) such as for maternity, childcare, and/or family care, please indicate it in your curriculum vitae. We will consider it when assessing your performance.), (c) summary of previous studies in 1 page and research plan in 1 page (d) publication list and off-prints of major papers Submission deadline: 23:59 JST on December 27, Tuesday, 2022 For full details of the job posting, please contact Prof. Takaaki Yokoyama (yokoyama@kwasan.kyoto-u.ac.jp).
  • Postdoc Positions at Queen Mary University of London
    We are advertising up to two postdoc positions to work in Dr Christopher Chen’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) team on the research programme “Exploring New Regions of Space: Fundamentals and Impacts of Astrophysical Plasma Turbulence”. The project involves spacecraft data analysis, lab plasma experiments, theory & simulation, and space weather research, so applicants with expertise in any of these areas (and interest in getting involved in the others) are encouraged. The research aims are to understand turbulence as a fundamental process in space/lab/astrophysics, the role it plays in controlling the dynamics of these systems, and modelling its effects in space weather. The FLF offers extensive dedicated career support for all team members. The Space & Astrophysical Plasmas group at QMUL has a strong track record, going back to the pioneering work of Vincenzo Ferraro in the 1950s, and is part of the Astronomy Unit, which also hosts other leading research groups in Cosmology & Relativity and Extrasolar Planets & Planet Formation, with its members taking key roles in major international projects. The Astronomy Unit is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, within the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences. In the UK’s most recent national research assessment (2021 REF), 98% of the Department’s research was rated internationally excellent and world leading (3*/4*). The School runs comprehensive undergraduate and masters taught programmes in Physics and Astrophysics, maintains a successful PhD research training programme, and undertakes an extensive range of outreach activities. For more information about these positions and to apply, please see: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/jobs/vacancies/items/7718.html The deadline for applications is 18th December 2022. For informal enquiries please contact Dr Christopher Chen (christopher.chen@qmul.ac.uk).
  • Research Fellow in Solar Wind Origins at UCL/MSSL
    A postdoctoral position has become available at Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London focussed on performing scientific research into the origins, evolution and fundamental processes of the solar wind. The successful applicant will be expected to perform scientific investigations using the state-of-the-art EUI and SWA data which are being collected by MSSL’s PI/Co-PI instruments on Solar Orbiter (launched in February 2020), together with other relevant datasets from other instruments on the mission, and from other relevant missions and observatories where appropriate. The post is initially funded until 31 March 2025 under the Consolidated Grant award from UKRI/STFC, with an application deadline of 1st December. More details and application material for this post can be found on UCL’s recruitment website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/search-ucl-jobs/details?nPostingId=1443&nPostingTargetId=1772&id=Q1KFK026203F3VBQBLO8M8M07&LG=UK&mask=ext. Informal enquiries should be directed to Dr. David Long (david.long@ucl.ac.uk), Prof. Christopher J. Owen (c.owen@ucl.ac.uk), and/or Prof. Andrew Fazakerley (a.fazakerley@ucl.ac.uk).
  • Postdoctoral Positions in Solar Physics at Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
    Two postdoctoral positions are available in the Solar Physics and Space Weather Group within the Astronomy & Astrophysics Section of Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. The Section is a vibrant and inclusive community of researchers working on solar physics, space weather, planetary science, star formation, and high-energy astrophysics. – 1-year scholarship working on solar data processing for SolarMonitor.org. Deadline to apply is 2 December 2022, check https://dias.ie/solarmonitor-scholar for details. – 3-year fellowship working on deep learning for flare forecasting. Deadline to apply is 16 December 2022, check https://dias.ie/arcaff-postdoc for details.
  • Stephen Hawking Fellowship Opportunity **NOW OPEN**
    Dear All, Please see the below UKRI Funding Finder opportunity for the Stephen Hawking Fellowship: Stephen Hawking Postdoctoral Fellowship – UKRI The opportunity is now open for applications and is an open ended scheme run jointly through EPSRC and STFC. Please contact us if you have any further questions regarding the Fellowship and we will be happy to help. Kind regards Jemma Wilson