The Dynamic Sun - A Live View with Astrophysicist Henry “Trae" Winter and Engineer Peter Cheimets
Thursday, February 11, 2016
7:00pm to 8:00pm
When
Thursday, February 11, 20167:00pm to 8:00pm
Where
About This Event
On the 6th anniversary of the launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Dr. Henry “Trae" Winter, astrophysicist from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), will show and discuss his project The Dynamic Sun, which includes a near-real time feed of the Sun featuring loops, sunspots, solar flares and other solar activity within an hour of their occurrence. The Dynamic Sun takes “big data” and converts it into a breathtaking and fascinating display for the video walls in the James B. Hunt Jr. Library. Dr. Winter will be joined by Peter Cheimets, a Senior Engineer who has led a number of NASA funded solar missions for SAO. Mr. Cheimets is an internationally recognized expert on high resolution, spaced based telescope design and fabrication and is an integral member of the SDO Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) team, which is capturing the data used by the Dynamic Sun project. Winter and Cheimets will be joined by special guest Steven Clarke, Director of NASA's Heliophysics Division, who will describe NASA's work in heliophysics.
Before the Dynamic Sun talk, join us at 6:30 p.m. in the iPearl Immersion Theater on the second floor of Hunt Library. Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor John Blondin, head of the NC State physics department and astrophysics group, will be showing a series of videos produced by students in the intensive 10-week Undergraduate Research in Computational Astrophysics (URCA) summer program. Currently featured URCA projects include a simulation of x-ray and gas activity in the binary solar system Vela X-1 and an animated model that shows the expansion of a supernova 13,000 light-years away.
As an added benefit for members of the NC State community, Winter and Cheimets will be leading a two-part seminar on Friday, February 12 from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. For details, click here.
Contact Information
Admission
Free and open to the public.