The Sun Is Sexy: Space Weather Prediction 2.0

OK, so I nearly went with the title: "Solar Flares Scorching Your Satellites? There's an App For That." But I thought that was lame. (But I said it anyway.)

It's quite easy to feel a little bogged down with social media platforms and smart phone apps, and in my opinion, there's a lot of junk out there. But when I come across something cool, something useful, I have to share it.

And when it's got something to do with the sun, then stand back! I'm going to get more than a little enthusiastic.

The sun and I have a history, and from 2002 to 2006, that was all I studied; the sun, coronal loops and space weather. I didn't realize that I was joining an elite group of astrophysicists who all had a passion for our nearest star, but all suffered from a common problem: funding.

Granted, pretty much every scientific discipline has the same complaint, but solar physics always seemed to have a low priority. Perhaps it was because the sun is an "everyday" object; it just isn't exotic enough.

At a memorable conference in Scotland, I remember one of the speakers tackling the stigma that seemed to be attached to solar physics. He took a stab at why solar funding wasn't being prioritized. Projecting a graphic on the whiteboard, he angled his laser pointer at the top of the sliding scale, pointing to text that said "Black Holes."

Next to "Black Holes" was a label: "SEXY."

As he scrolled down the scale, passing "Quasars," "Neutron Stars," "Supernovae" and some other cool areas of astrophysics, he stopped next to another label: "BORING."

Next to "BORING" was "Solar Physics."

He wasn't trying to annoy the crowd (the people that approve his funding were probably there, too), but he was making a point. The public's perception of solar physics was bad, possibly indicating why it's a science that is woefully underfunded.

In actuality, of all the celestial bodies in the universe (exotic or otherwise), the sun has the greatest effect on our planet beyond our atmosphere. As both Dr. Alex Young and myself agree in the Discovery Channel documentary "2012 Apocalypse" (shameless plug: March 4 and 5 at 10 pm, Discovery Channel), solar physics and space weather prediction studies need an awful lot more money to help us predict damaging Earth-directed solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

These events are well known to damage sensitive satellites, irradiate astronauts and overload power grids, so wouldn't it be a good idea to be protected? (But don't worry, the solar flare/doomsday hype in 2012 is still horribly flawed; a "killer" solar flare isn't predicted to cause mayhem in two years time.)

Whether the solar physics funding situation has changed much in the last four years, it's hard to say, but it seems that since the launch of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the twin Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) satellites, solar physics may have inched up the "sexy sliding scale," hopefully above those dull neutron stars (who would find a clump of spinning degenerate matter interesting anyway?).

Solar physics may have its challenges and space weather prediction methods are far from perfect (although our understanding about how the sun's atmosphere impacts the Earth is improving), in this age of social media and cellphones smarter than your average laptop, you can get involved. In fact, you can help find explosions on the surface of the sun, possibly preventing our satellites (and astronauts) from getting irradiated!

This is how:

1) "3D Sun" (iPhone application).

The NASA press release starts off with: "Imagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can." And they're not kidding. Sure enough, moments after I'd installed "3D Sun", I was spinning a neat 3 dimensional projected map of the sun.

Using real-time data from the twin STEREO satellites, this tool allows you to explore all the active and quiet regions on the solar surface. The best thing is, as you are able to see images from two different viewpoints at different locations in Earth's orbit around the sun, you can see regions of the solar surface you can't see from Earth.

Although the graphics are a little blocky at the moment, the resolution will improve with each app update. But it doesn't stop with the pretty pictures. 3D Sun keeps track of solar events (like flares, active regions, sunspots) and notifies you so you can get real-time news just as it breaks. The whole project is headed by Dr. Tony Phillips, editor of Science@NASA.

Review and download the application from the developer's site or grab it from iTunes.

2) "Solar Stormwatch"

Often scientists can turn to the public for help, especially when long observational periods are required or vast amounts of data need to be processed. For space weather prediction, there's a new Web site called "Solar Stormwatch" and its mission is clear:

Help them spot explosions on the Sun and track them across space to Earth. Your work will give astronauts an early warning if dangerous solar radiation is headed their way. And you could make a new scientific discovery.

The most exciting thing about this project is that you can do some solar observing yourself. All of your contributions are then fed into the system and then passed along to solar physicists.

This is a similar interactive format to the Galaxy Zoo project which has been hugely successful in identifying different types of galaxies, accelerating the scientific process through public participation.