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Lessons from a solar storm chaser

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Miho Janvier |

TEDGlobal 2017

• August 2017

Space physicist Miho Janvier studies solar storms: giant clouds of particles that escape from the Sun and can disrupt life on Earth (while also producing amazing auroras). How do you study the atmosphere on the Sun, which burns at temperatures of up to around 10 million degrees Kelvin? With math! Join the TED Fellow as she shares her work trying to better understand how the Sun affects us here on Earth.

Space physicist Miho Janvier studies solar storms: giant clouds of particles that escape from the Sun and can disrupt life on Earth (while also producing amazing auroras). How do you study the atmosphere on the Sun, which burns at temperatures of up to around 10 million degrees Kelvin? With math! Join the TED Fellow as she shares her work trying to better understand how the Sun affects us here on Earth.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Solar Storm VR, a virtual reality experience that lets you witness the birth of a solar storm on the Sun, its journey in the solar system and its effects on Earth.

Join the research effort to better characterize solar storms once they're launched in space.

About the speaker

Miho Janvier

Space physicist

See speaker profile

TED Fellow Miho Janvier studies the the Sun -- in particular the origin of phenomena called "solar storms" which can impact planets in the solar system.

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The Sun Today

This website is updated several times each day to show the state of our Sun from different spacecraft/instruments. It provides a comprehensive overview of the activity of the Sun with the different filters provided by the different missions.

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Solar Dynamics Observatory

Solar Dynamics Observatory is a NASA mission dedicated to the study of our Sun. One of its instruments, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, takes a picture of the full Sun every 12 seconds in different filters, revealing the details of its atmosphere at different temperatures. This website, along with the presentation of the mission, provides a library of stunning images and videos of the full Sun from space at the highest spatial and temporal resolution.

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NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

This resource provides both footages of the Sun and the heliosphere, the space between the Sun and the planets, taken by different space missions, as well as educative videos about phenomena related to the Sun’s activity.

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Solar Storm and Space Weather - Frequently Asked Questions

This website presents frequently asked questions about space weather and solar flares, worth exploring for the curious minds about the Sun’s activity and its impact on Earth.

Royal Academy of Engineering | Article

"Extreme space weather: impacts on engineered systems and infrastructure"

This report, provided by the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK provides an interesting and complete report on the effect of space weather, and in particular of solar storms, and infrastructures such as electricity grids and satellites.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Solar Storm VR, a virtual reality experience that lets you witness the birth of a solar storm on the Sun, its journey in the solar system and its effects on Earth.

Join the research effort to better characterize solar storms once they're launched in space.