Sun in 3D

Monday 23 April 2007
Aberystwyth produces the world's first 3D images of the Sun
Scientists at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth have produced the very first 3D images of the Sun using data from the NASA STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) mission which was successfully launched in October 2006.

A team of engineers at See3D, a University spinout company that provides virtual reality services to industry and academia, has developed software that makes it possible to view images from STEREO in real time – within 30 seconds of receiving the data from the space craft. This breakthrough means that University scientists are ahead of NASA in being able to view these images in full 3D.

The images will be shown for the first time on Monday 23 April at the University's Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. They will be shown in a virtual reality theatre equipped with a Fakespace Power Wall display. See3D has also produced an anaglyph version that makes it possible to view the images through red and green lensed glasses, as used in cinemas to view films such as Jaws 3.

Dr Andy Breen is a leading member of the solar System Physics Research Group at Aberystwyth Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and a co-investigator on the mission’s SECCHI instrument (Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation).

He said: “We’ve always known that we need to study the Sun in three dimensions in order to understand the complex structures in the solar atmosphere. STEREO provides us with the first opportunity to do this. Aberystwyth has been involved in STEREO planning from an early stand and, with the help of See3D, we are now in a terrific position to be one of the first to exploit this data.”

"Understanding three-dimensional data an be difficult – unless you see it in three dimensions. The sophisticated 3D projection techniques developed by Phil Summers and Andrew Rawlins at See3D have allowed us to see the complex structure of the Sun’s atmosphere in three dimensions for the first time.”

Aberystwyth enjoys very close links with the group at Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory which has led UK involvement in STEREO. Richard Harrison – the principal investigator on the revolutionary Heliospheric Imager instrument – has recently been awarded an honorary professorship with IMAPS, while Chris Davis, the project scientist, is an Aberystwyth Graduate.

·         See3D
http://www.see3d.co.uk
See3D is a spinout company from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth that provides virtual reality services to industry and academia. The company is part of £10.4m development by UWA which includes the construction of a new state of the art Centre for Visualisation at Aberystwyth which is due to open in autumn 2007. The project has received funding of £6m from the National Assembly of Wales Government, which includes £4.4m from the European Union’s Objective 1 programme.

·         Stereo was successfully launched on Thursday 26th October 2006. It comprises two nearly identical observatories that will orbit the Sun to monitor its violent outbursts Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and the space weather it creates that can impact the Earth, satellites and astronauts.

·         SECCHI is a set of 5 telescopes on each space craft that will observe the inner part of the Sun’s atmosphere in ultraviolet light and the outer atmosphere, which extends beyond the Earth, in white light. Dr Breen has developed a series of experiments which are designed to look out for solar storms as they move out from the Sun towards the Earth.

·         Further information on Stereo mission is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/main/index.html

·         The Solar System Physics research group at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth has made a significant contribution to understanding the solar wind and its effects on the Earth over many years. The late Professor Phil Williams was one of the first to successfully measure the velocity of solar wind as it flows away from the Sun.

Under the directorship of Professor Manuel Grande, who joined Aberystwyth from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory where he was Leader of the Planets and Space Plasmas group, the group has extended its field of study to include the study of the effects of the solar wind on Mars, Venus and Mercury. Professor Grande is also one of the lead scientists on Aspera 4 which forms part of the Venus Express mission.  

Venus Express was launched in November 2005 and successfully entered orbit around Venus in April 2006. http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2006/04/uwa4306/.

·         Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) / Solar storm incidents
In 1859 a giant solar storm erupted hurtling hot plasma in the form of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) toward the Earth. As this was before the space age, the main effect was disruption to telegraph lines and sightings of aurora in unusual locations. If such a storm were to be repeated today, the effects would be more dramatic as satellites ringing the Earth would take the brunt of the impact! Forecasts suggest that such a major outburst from the Sun would have a similar economic impact to a category 5 hurricane! The 1859 storm is also significant because it was the first occasion when scientists directly linked a solar flare to the aurora seen on Earth 12 hours later. This was observed by UK scientist Richard Carrington for which he was honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society.

August 1972 saw a solar storm that is legendary at NASA. It occurred between two Apollo missions, with one crew just returned from the Moon and another preparing for launch. If an astronaut had been on the Moon at the time, they might have received a 400 rem (Roentgen Equivalent man) radiation dose. Not only would this have caused radiation sickness, but without rapid medical treatment such a sudden dose could be fatal. Astronauts on the ISS are safer as spaceships provide considerable shielding from solar storms and the ISS is within the protective magnetic field of the Earth. Humans exploring the Moon or Mars need carefully designed shelters that can protect them without the benefit of a magnetic field.

CMEs can also affect power grids. On March 13th 1989, a CME hitting the Earth caused magnetic disruptions that induced currents in the power grid. This caused a series of transformers to trip, leaving 6 million people in Quebec without power, as well as knocking out the power in other countries.

A particularly violent CME occurred on October 31st 2003. This blinded Mars Express for a day and significantly degraded the solar panels on a number of spacecraft including Mars Express, SOHO and Cluster.  CMEs also interfere with radio systems that use the ionosphere to reflect signals over long distances.