![]() ![]() The study zeroes in on a mystery that has left even senior astrophysicists scratching their heads. "It was a massive effort from everyone involved," said Lewandowski, professor of physics and fellow of JILA, a joint research institute between CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Study co-author Heather Lewandowski agreed, noting that the study wouldn't be possible without the undergrads who contributed an estimated 56,000 hours of work to the project. "We really wanted to emphasize to these students that they were doing actual scientific research," said James Mason, lead author of the study and an astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. ![]() The results suggest that solar flares may not be responsible for superheating the sun's corona, as a popular theory in astrophysics suggests. The researchers, including 995 undergraduate and graduate students, published their finding May 9 in The Astrophysical Journal. ![]() The research represents a nearly-unprecedented feat of data analysis: From 2020 to 2022, the small army of mostly first- and second-year students examined the physics of more than 600 real solar flares - gigantic eruptions of energy from the sun's roiling corona. ![]()
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