NSF-CGP Science Fellowship Program: Ground-Based Support of the Yohkoh Solar Mission

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This award provides support for a nine-month visit to Japan by a U.S. investigator, Barry LaBonte of the University of Hawaii, working under the direction of the principal investigator, Kenneth Lang of Tufts University, to participate in ground-based and theoretical support of the Japanese solar satellite, Yohkoh. Dr. LaBonte will be working with three primary Japanese investigators: Yutaka Uchida, Professor of Astronomy, Tokyo University; Professor Yoshiaki Ogawara, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS); and Tadashi Hirayama, Professor and Director of the Solar Physics Group at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The Yohkoh satellite was launched in August, 1991 by ISAS. It has an expected lifetime of more than three years. The goals of the Yohkoh mission are the study of energetic phenomena in solar flares and the study of the thermal and magnetic structure of the nonflare corona. The X-ray imagers and spectrometers on the Yohkoh spacecraft provide uniquely detailed and complete information on the corona itself. Observations from ground-based instruments of the underlying photospheric magnetic field and chromospheric structure are also essential, however, for the most comprehensive understanding of the critical science questions. Dr. LaBonte will work on three specific topics: large scale events, flare emission spectrum, and heating of corona. The data from the satellite, currently the only solar observatory in space, will provide the basis for many solar research projects in the United States and Japan. It also provides an opportunity for significant advances in our understanding of the physical processes that govern solar flares and the corona in general. //