"The Dynamic Sun" Combines Solar Physics and Visualization
The NCSU Libraries and NC State's College of Sciences present two events celebrating a large, HD video feed of near-real time solar activity.
The NCSU Libraries and NC State College of Sciences will host a talk by scientists from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) about the breathtaking Dynamic Sun solar feed project on Thursday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Commons Wall in the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, where the high-definition, near-real time video image of the sun will be exhibited through March 13.
SAO astrophysicist Henry "Trae" Winter and engineer Peter Cheimets will discuss the development of "The Dynamic Sun" project, which displays solar flares, loops, sunspots, and other solar activities at a startlingly crisp resolution. The free, public event will also feature a short talk about heliophysics by Steven W. Clarke, Heliophysics Division Director at NASA.
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.
The following morning, Friday, February 12, from 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m., in the West Wing Auditorium of D. H. Hill Library, Winter and Cheimets will lead a seminar about turning scientific "big data" into visuals and other outcomes that make that data accessible and more meaningful to a wider audience. They will also discuss the collaborative process and how scientists and engineers can strengthen cross-disciplinary projects.
The events at the NCSU Libraries commemorate the sixth anniversary of NASA's launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory.