Space Studies at the University of North Dakota<\/a>, focusing on the planetary sciences and astrobiology. \u00a0I have an undergraduate degree in Philosophy from State University of New York at Geneseo (with minors in Biology and Environmental Studies) so I have a strong background in the sciences as well as the humanities.<\/p>\nMy focus area at University of North Dakota does not involve heliophysics extensively, and despite having been able to see the aurora on several occasions in Grand Forks, North Dakota (particularly the St. Patrick\u2019s Day storm), I admit my expertise in the field did not extend beyond the general understanding that there are sunspots and there are sunspot cycles.<\/p>\n
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Only three out of my ten weeks have gone by, and I\u2019ve already learned so much! From arriving in Maryland and slowly mastering the public transportation system to jumping right into what has properly been called \u201cSpace Weather Boot Camp,\u201d my experience so far has been intense, exciting and extremely informative \u2013 not unlike the space weather that comes to us and generates the aurora.<\/p>\n
Space Weather Boot Camp, which took place at NASA Goddard, is the first of many building blocks to help orient me to the heliophysics and space weather world. The camp is two weeks of learning the more nuanced version of why the Sun does what it does and getting hands-on experience with the models and tools that real space weather forecasters are using at NASA and NOAA. \u00a0This more nuanced version allowed me to expand my vocabulary beyond \u201csunspots\u201d to include all the jargon the forecasters use, too. \u00a0I learned terms like SEPs (solar energetic particles), CMEs (coronal mass ejections) CIRs (corotating interaction region), HSS (high speed stream), the IMF (interplanetary magnetic field), KP indices, prominences, flares, filaments, magnetic reconnections and magnetograms. All these terms and acronyms are just a small slice of the vernacular of heliophysics. One of the jobs of the Aurorasaurus team is to distill this jargon to help the science and citizen science community understand the mechanics behind the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n
But I learned more than the jargon. The boot camp offered me an up-close and personal look at the Sun and how scientists on the ground and around the world monitor, track and (attempt to) predict what our favorite star will spit out at us next. \u00a0Aside from the importance that monitoring space weather has and will have as we continue our triumphant and exploratory marches throughout the solar system, the biggest takeaway was that there is still quite a bit that we are \u201cin the dark\u201d about regarding solar activity. At the start of the two weeks, I had the general understanding that the Sun acts kind of like a much bigger, hotter and more magnetic lava lamp that occasionally flashes and erupts. By the end of the two weeks, my understanding was pretty much the same, except now I can describe what is happening in the Sun with all the official jargon used by scientists. \u00a0My understanding had changed slightly too, regarding the lava lamp analogy. The Sun is not like one bigger, faster, hotter lava lamp \u2013 the Sun is closer to billions of big, spinning, interconnected lava lamps, that we puny humans are getting ever so slightly better at anticipating.<\/p>\n
Aside from the technical learning, I\u2019ve also been surprised to learn how global the field of heliophysics and space weather is, not just in its subject matter, but in the community at large. \u00a0As space weather impacts the Earth and is a physically global phenomenon, so too must the community that studies it – and in our case, enjoy it \u2013 continue to expand and become global. \u00a0As I join the Aurorasaurus team this summer, I am pleased to join the community, to have the privilege to be able to contribute to the field, and to help more people to see that most beautiful evidence of space weather \u2013 the Aurora Borealis.<\/p>\n
I invite any and all of your questions about the aurora, heliophysics, NASA, philosophy or soccer, which I will track down the answer to as continue to soak in the knowledge here at Goddard. \u00a0Your questions can be emailed to aurorasaurus.info@gmail.com<\/a>, or posted as a comment to this blog post!<\/p>\n**<\/p>\n
Sean McCloat interned with Aurorasaurus in the summer of 2015 while\u00a0pursuing his masters degree in\u00a0Space Studies at the University of North Dakota with a\u00a0focus on the planetary sciences and astrobiology. He\u00a0helped analyze the project’s data, contributed to scientific papers, presentations, and blog posts, and became good friends with Rory, the Aurorasaurus plush doll mascot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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