Dark pink loops rise and fall from a swath of dark pink in the bottom right corner over a light pink background.

“Raindrops in the Sun’s Corona”: New Adaptive Optics Shows Stunning Details of our Star’s Atmosphere

The Sun’s corona—the outermost layer of its atmosphere, visible only during a total solar eclipse—has long intrigued scientists due to ...
Undulating waves of gold, orange and red fill this image. Dark black areas are surrounded by deep red and orange indicating sunspots.

Largest Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter Achieves First Light at the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

The U.S. National Science Foundation Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, operated by the NSF ...
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NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope’s Cryo-NIRSP instrument offers unprecedented look at Alfvén waves

Over the last decade, scientists have confirmed the presence of a an important type of magnetized waves called Alfvén waves ...
Graphic showing a close up of a section of the Sun (in grey) with several filaments in color overlaid on it.

Harnessing AI for Space Weather Forecasting with NSF GONG Data

Solar filaments, dramatic thread-like structures visible in the Sun’s chromosphere, may hold the key to understanding one of the most ...
Purple and yellow image shows flaring off the sun. Actual data is insert in black and white

Groundbreaking Achievement: NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope Produces its First Magnetic Field Maps of the Sun’s Corona

Maui, Hawaii – The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, designed, ...
Participants sitting at a square of tables about to being the meeting.

AURA Annual Meeting 2024

On a bright April morning in Tucson, Arizona, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy’s (AURA) Annual Meeting kicked ...
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Unveiling the Mysteries of the Solar Chromosphere with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

The second layer of our Sun’s atmosphere, the chromosphere, is sandwiched between the Sun’s visible surface (or photosphere) below, and ...
AURA Appoints Christoph Keller as next National Solar Observatory Director

AURA Appoints Christoph Keller as next National Solar Observatory Director

AURA is pleased to announce that Dr. Christoph Keller has been appointed as the next Director of the National Science ...
Unraveling Solar Symphony: Quasi-Biennial Oscillations Dance to Their Own Beat in Cycles 23 and 24

Unraveling Solar Symphony: Quasi-Biennial Oscillations Dance to Their Own Beat in Cycles 23 and 24

In the intricate dance of solar activity, a new study led by solar physicist Kiran Jain at the National Science ...
NSO: Magnetic fields in solar plage regions: insights from high-sensitivity spectropolarimetry

NSO: Magnetic fields in solar plage regions: insights from high-sensitivity spectropolarimetry

In the ever-evolving realm of solar physics, a quest to understand the enigmatic solar plages (pronounced /pleɪdʒ/) has led to ...
Statement on Maui Wildfires

Statement on Maui Wildfires

AURA and the National Solar Observatory (NSO) are closely monitoring the harrowing, devastating wildfires which have severely impacted our local ...
NSO: The Sun’s Polar Magnetic Field will Soon Flip

NSO: The Sun’s Polar Magnetic Field will Soon Flip

The Sun is about to turn upside down – magnetically speaking, of course. In recent months, we’ve seen an uptick ...