July 22, 2011
Leon Ofman, astrophysics research professor NASA has awarded Catholic University a grant of $124,704 to develop a way to better predict which eruptions on the sun's surface will hit Earth.
After magnetized solar plasma erupts from the sun, it travels in space long distances, even the 94 million miles to Earth's orbit where it causes a solar storm.
These eruptions can miss Earth given the planet is small compared to the volume of space around the sun and since the plasma can go in many possible directions.
But since solar storms can hurt astronauts and satellites in space, predicting which sun eruptions will reach Earth is a "high priority" for NASA, says Catholic University astrophysics Professor Leon Ofman, principal investigator and supervisor of the project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Using data from several NASA spacecraft operating in space, Ofman and his research team will develop a more accurate model than is available now to forecast which solar eruptions will produce magnetized plasma clouds that "will actually hit Earth," he explains.
Catholic University post-doctoral scholar Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla will analyze NASA satellite data to help carry out the research. The project is being done in collaboration with NASA's Adam Szabo, project scientist for one of the satellites that will provide the data.
Ofman and Nieves-Chinchilla are two of about 50 Ph.D. researchers who comprise Catholic University's Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences.
***
The Institute for Astrophysics and Computational Sciences (IACS) was established in October 1996 to develop strong research and educational programs in the areas of astrophysics and computational sciences at Catholic University, and promote closer cooperation between the University and government agencies and with industry. Catholic University researchers at the IACS have made numerous scientific advances, from the discovery of methane gas on Mars, which is possible evidence of primitive life on that planet, to the development of technology to protect the world's power grids from geomagnetic storms.