Aurorasaurus Celebrates Heliophysics Big Year!
Aurorasaurus Celebrates Heliophysics Big Year!
The Aurorasaurus team celebrates the “Heliophysics Big Year”, which is a year filled with some amazing solar events. The Heliophysics Big Year is a global celebration of solar science and the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system.
Not only are we ramping up to the Sun’s most active “solar maximum” phase, but people across the planet will be able to view some amazing solar eclipses. Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on our planet. This only happens occasionally, because the Moon doesn’t orbit in the exact same plane as the Sun and Earth do. To learn more about eclipses see: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/types/
October kicked off the exciting year with an annual “ring of fire” solar eclipse on October 13th. People gathered from all over to see this rare event. And then in the spring there is another incredible opportunity when on April 8, 2024, there will be a total eclipse of the sun!
Scientists want your help observing these events with your eyes, ears, tech, and specialized solar telescopes.
You can find out more about the various eclipse research efforts that you can take part in by watching a “Do NASA Science LIVE” eclipse preview show with NASA scientists and SciStarter here, and by checking out Aurorasaurus’ latest blog post. Learn more about the science of eclipses with this training from Eclipse Soundscapes. Eclipses make for amazing experiences!
The Aurorasaurus team encourages citizen scientists everywhere to get to know the sun a little better and to take part in some of these learning opportunities. They give a list of resources for anyone interested:
- Heliophysics Big Year website
- A deck of slides about Eclipse opportunities from a session at this year’s American Astronomical Society conference
- Another slide deck about the Big Year that includes slides about all of the involved community science projects
- NASA Eclipses website
- NASA Science Activation teams, including many of the projects mentioned in this post
- Poster by Heliophysics Presidential Innovation Fellow Ha-Hoa Hamano describing the HBY with links to all the projects you can participate in
- Slide deck describing the HBY
The New Mexico Consortium is a proud supporter of the Aurorasaurus Project.