Related papers: The Sun Diver: Combining solar sails with the Ober…
The Sun's gradual brightening will seriously compromise the Earth's biosphere within ~ 1E9 years. If Earth's orbit migrates outward, however, the biosphere could remain intact over the entire main-sequence lifetime of the Sun. In this…
We investigate how rotationally-constrained, deep convection might give rise to supergranulation, the largest distinct spatial scale of convection observed in the solar photosphere. While supergranulation is only weakly influenced by…
Laser sails propelled by gigawatt-scale ground-based laser arrays have the potential to reach relativistic speeds, traversing the solar system in hours and reaching nearby stars in years. Here, we describe the danger interplanetary dust…
We propose to use metasurfaces as a mean of controlling radiation pressure for increasing the range of motions of spacecraft solar sails. Specifically, we present a theoretical study of different electromagnetic field configurations, and…
The Sun is the most studied of all stars. It is a reference for all other observed stars and a laboratory of fundamental physics helping us understand processes occuring in conditions irreproducible on Earth. However, our understanding of…
The measurement of Doppler velocities in spectroscopic solar observations requires a reference for the local frame of rest. The rotational and radial velocities of the Earth and the rotation of the Sun introduce velocity offsets in the…
A torus-shaped sail consists of a reflective membrane attached to an inflatable torus-shaped rim. The sail's deployment from its stowed configuration is initiated by introducing inflation pressure into the toroidal rim with an attached…
During the early stages of an impact a small amount material may be jetted and ejected at speeds exceeding the impact velocity. Jetting is an important process for producing melt during relatively low velocity impacts. How impact angle…
A conceptually novel model - one in which stimulated (i.e. induced) resonance Rayleigh scattering causes ions of select species to become accelerated to very high terminal velocities in the solar winds of OB-type stars - is proposed to…
We report on the effect of the strong spin orbit coupling and the Lorentz force on the efficiency of TiO2 based dye sensitized solar cells. Upon inclusion of Ho2O3, due to the strong spin orbit coupling of the rare earth Ho3+ ion, we do see…
Evidence for two different physical mechanisms for acceleration of solar energetic particles (SEPs) arose 50 years ago with radio observations of type III bursts, produced by outward streaming electrons, and type II bursts from coronal and…
The Sun has a Near-Surface Shear Layer (NSSL), within which the angular velocity decreases rapidly with radius. We provide an explanation of this layer based on the thermal wind balance equation. Since convective motions are not affected by…
Glint, the specular reflection of sunlight off Earth's oceans, may reveal the presence of oceans on an extrasolar planet. As an Earth-like planet nears crescent phases, the size of the ocean glint spot increases relative to the fraction of…
Context: The strong electric fields associated with magnetic reconnection in solar flares are a plausible mechanism to accelerate populations of high energy, non-thermal particles. One such reconnection scenario occurs at a 3D magnetic null…
We investigate the deceleration of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) during their propagation from the Sun through interplanetary space, in the presence of weak to strong scattering in a Parker spiral configuration, using relativistic full…
Using the "statite," or static-satelite, concept -- an artificial satellite capable of hovering in place using a solar sail -- this work proposes to create a dynamic orbital slingshot in anticipation of Interstellar Objects (ISOs) passing…
Compound drop impacting on a solid surface is of considerable importance in industrial applications, such as combustion, food industry, and drug encapsulation. An intriguing phenomenon associated with this process is the occurrence of…
Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), as an acceleration process for Galactic electrons at the solar wind termination shock (TS), is investigated with a comprehensive numerical model which incorporates shock-acceleration, particle drifts and…
The shape of a rotating electric solar wind sail under the centrifugal force and solar wind dynamic pressure is modeled to address the sail attitude maintenance and thrust vectoring. The sail rig assumes centrifugally stretched main tethers…
The solar convection manifests as granulation and intergranulation at the solar surface. In the photosphere, convective motions induce differential Doppler shifts to spectral lines. The observed convective blueshift varies across the solar…