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Solar Patrol

Solar Cascade

Join GAVRT Solar Patrol to probe magnetic connections from sunspots out to the Sun's corona using a radio telescope.

Campaign Mission

Campaign Mission

Engage students in daily observations of the Sun in order to deepen their understanding of the Sun’s significance in their lives. GAVRT will produce daily solar maps. Involve citizen scientists in the process of collecting and analyzing the data. These data will be used to improve our understanding of how the Sun generates space weather and its impact on the Earth.
Join GAVRT Solar Patrol to answer these burning questions:

Join GAVRT Solar Patrol to answer these burning questions:

  • How does our GAVRT radio telescope help us “see” activity on the Sun?
  • How do these observations help us understand how the Sun produces space weather?
  • How can space weather impact our way of life on Earth?
Solar Patrol Goals

Solar Patrol Goals

  • Science: Use GAVRT data in concert with other datasets to improve broad understanding of how the Sun generates space weather and its impact on the Earth.Improve our understanding of how the Sun generates space weather and its impact on the Earth.
  • Education: Teach students how to collect and analyze data on the Sun and use those data to make predictions about space weather.
  • Education/Citizen Science: Teach participants how to examine and report relevant data to scientists to follow up.
Why do we study the Sun?

Why do we study the Sun?

The Sun's radiation controls almost everything on Earth including:
  • Life
  • Weather
  • Climate
  • Seasons
Storms, flares, and coronal mass ejections (CME) can affect today's space and communications technologies.
 
Radio astronomy data, such as GAVRT maps, monitor the activites on the Sun and provide support to missions e.g. the Parker Solar Probe.
 
As the Sun is our nearest star, it provides a laboratory of us to study the evolution of stars and galaxies.
Students control a GAVRT antenna (top left) remotely to perform raster scans (top middle) and produce radio images of the Sun (top right) that cannot be seen with the naked eye. An example of GAVRT daily maps (lower left), at one of the frequencies produced on May 25th, 2021 during a Parker Solar Probe campaign perihelion pass. For comparison, examples of the high resolution radio map from EOVSA interferometer (lower middle) and the sunspot magnetogram (lower right) are shown. Citizen scientists have the opportunity to identify and analyze active regions for further studies with data from optical, UV, and X-ray observatories in space.
 
To join the GAVRT Solar Patrol Citizen Science team, email GAVRT Mission Control or join our mailing list for more information.