Related papers: Why every observatory needs a disco ball
This review addresses the state of research that employs astronomical (remote sensing) observations of solids ("dust") in young circumstellar disks to learn about planet formation. The intention is for it to serve as an accessible,…
Strong advances in direct evidence of magnetic fields in hot massive stars have been possible thanks to the new generation of high-resolution spectropolarimeters such as ESPaDOnS (on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope) or HARPSpol (on the…
The Sun is not quite a perfect sphere, and its oblateness, thought to be induced through its rotation, has been measured using optical observations of its radius. Its gravitational quadrupole moment can then be deduced using solar models,…
The solar atmosphere is full of complicated transients manifesting the reconfiguration of solar magnetic field and plasma. Solar jets represent collimated, beam-like plasma ejections; they are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and…
The dynamic activity of stars such as the Sun influences (exo)planetary space environments through modulation of stellar radiation, plasma wind, particle and magnetic fluxes. Energetic stellar phenomena such as flares and coronal mass…
The automated detection of solar features is a technique which is relatively underused but if we are to keep up with the flow of data from spacecraft such as the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory, then such techniques will be…
Theoretical models for the solar dynamo range from simple low-dimensional ``toy models'' to complex 3D-MHD simulations. Here we mainly discuss appproaches that are motivated and guided by solar (and stellar) observations. We give a brief…
The observation of the Sun with a pinhole in order to check the first and the second Kepler's law has been realized for high school students. The settling of the experiment in order to minimize the errors of measure has permitted to verify…
Over the past decade, sky surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have proven the power of large data sets for answering fundamental astrophysical questions. This observational progress, based on a synergy of advances in telescope…
The seismic study of the Sun and other stars offers a unique window into the interior of these stars. Thanks to helioseismology, we know the structure of the Sun to admirable precision. In fact, our knowledge is good enough to use the Sun…
Second part of a didactic sequence of activities on some topics of Astronomy, related mainly with the real shape of the Earth, the gravitational interactions between our planet and other celestial bodies, and the resulting movement of the…
This project aims to attract school students and teachers from the state education system from Ca\c{c}apava do Sul - RS to Sciences and specially to Astronomy. We made astronomical observations using a Galileoscope choosing the Moon as a…
The aim of this paper is to encourage science educators and outreach groups to look appropriately at the Sun and consider it as an extraordinary pedagogical tool to teach science at all education stages, what we call here as the solar…
The balloon-borne Solar Disk Sextant (SDS) experiment has measured the angular size of the Sun on seven occasions spanning the years 1992 to 2011. The solar half-diameter -- observed in a 100-nm wide passband centred at 615 nm -- is found…
Sports are a popular and effective way to illustrate physics principles. Baseball in particular presents a number of opportunities to motivate student interest and teach concepts. Several articles have appeared in this journal on this…
There has been tremendous progress in observing oscillations in solar-type stars. In a few short years we have moved from ambiguous detections to firm measurements. We briefly review the recent results, most of which have come from…
The solar group at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is conducting synoptic solar observations with the Solar Flare Telescope. While it is a part of a long-term solar monitoring, contributing to the study of solar dynamo…
There has been tremendous progress in observing oscillations in solar-type stars. In a few short years we have moved from ambiguous detections to firm measurements. We review the recent results, most of which have come from high-precision…
Observations that require large physical instrument dimensions and/or a considerable amount of cryogens, as it is for example the case for high spatial resolution far infrared astronomy, currently still face technological limits for their…
Helioseismology, the study of global solar oscillations, has proved to be an extremely powerful tool for the investigation of the internal structure and dynamics of the Sun. Studies of time changes in frequency observations of solar…