University of Maryland
Computer & Space Science Building, Room 2400
4:30 PM Monday, April 14, 2008
Coffee, Tea & Cookies 4:15-4:30 PM
Michael L. Kaiser
GSFC
New Views of the Sun and Inner Solar System from STEREO
In late October 2006, the twin STEREO spacecraft were launched into orbits around the Sun. Their primary goal is to improve the understanding and prediction of the behavior of solar storms by viewing the Sun from two widely separated vantage points, enabling the study of these storms in three dimensions rather than the usual two. The instrument complements, identical on both spacecraft, include white light coronagraphs, all-sky imagers, several energetic particle detectors, a magnetic field detector, and a radio astronomy receiver. To date, important and often surprising observations of the solar storms propagating from the sun to the orbit of Earth have been made. However, as is frequently the case, serendipity has played a crucial role in the early observations from STEREO. In addition to the solar observations for which the mission was designed, unique and important measurements have been made of comets, Earth's radiation belts, and interplanetary dust.
Sponsored by: Department of Physics
and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland. For information
call Debbie Jenkins at (301) 405-4780 or go to the UMD Space Physics group seminar web site.
For free parking please park in lot DD or anywhere on levels 1-2 in lot B (the big parking garage) after 4:00 pm.
Make sure that you park in a spot WITHOUT a parking meter. More parking information is at the seminar website.