Solar System Physics

在阿伯里斯特威斯，我们正在研究太阳系内部复杂的相互作用。太阳、地球和行星通过它们之间的星际介质联系在一起。来自太阳的喷发导致了巨大的三维等离子体云，它们以超音速在星际空间中飞行。在地球上，它们会产生地磁暴，扰乱我们的通讯，危及宇航员，并在地面上产生指南针偏转，最明显的是，北极光。导致地球宜居的相同机制也会产生影响，塑造内行星的表面和大气，并导致月球、水星、金星和火星(程度较轻)上不适宜居住的条件。为了理解这些相互关联的过程，我们需要对太阳、行星和中间空间的环境进行最先进的测量。这包括地面测量和来自轨道上和其他行星表面的空间探测器的数据。然后我们可以发展出解释这些观测的理论，并使我们能够预测它们何时发生以及它们对我们太阳系内部环境的影响有多大。有一个良性循环，新的观察产生新的理论，新的问题，从而产生新的实验技术，使我们能够进行下一代的观察。在Aberystwyth，我们在这些阶段的每一个阶段都是世界领导者。我们的特别优势在于对太阳和行星的X射线和紫外线观测，用于探测行星表面的自主机器人，以及探测近地和星际空间的雷达技术。在Aberystwyth，我们是SMART-1航天器上目前绕月运行的X射线仪器的首席调查人员，它是定于2007年底到达月球的印度月船1号任务的继任者。我们还在为即将进行的比佩科伦坡水星任务准备X射线仪器方面发挥领导作用。我们世界领先的机器人软件将赋予Beagle-2在火星表面进行测量的自主权，现在将在欧洲返回火星并执行即将到来的ExoMars任务时使用。来自阿伯里斯特威斯的研究人员也是目前环绕金星、火星和地球运行的仪器背后的科学家团队的一员。Aberystwyth在探测行星际介质方面迈出了独特的一步，通过观察恒星在雷达上的闪烁，即所谓的行星际闪烁。在地球上，我们应用医学扫描中使用的断层扫描技术来拍摄快照，并建立地球电离层的三维图像。我们的理论计划集中于了解高度动态的三维等离子体结构如何在太阳上形成、爆发并加速进入行星际空间，以及这些快速变化的结构如何与内行星的磁场、大气层和表面相互作用。通过在其他行星上测试我们的理论，我们提高了对地球上形成我们自己环境的过程的理解。我们建立了这些理论的计算机模拟，向我们展示了太阳表面和大气、行星际空间和行星大气中的等离子云的复杂行为。该大学在三维可视化和虚拟现实这项新技术上投入了大量资金，这是真正可视化和理解正在发生的事情的唯一途径。Aberystwyth的独特之处在于，我们有能力调查连接太阳、地球和行星的相互作用链中的每一个环节。这使我们处于一个理想的位置来了解太阳系内部的事件如何塑造我们生活的环境。

At Aberystwyth, we are investigating the complex intercouplings of the inner solar system. The Sun, Earth and planets are linked by the interplanetary medium between them. Eruptions from the Sun result in large three-dimensional clouds of plasma which travel at supersonic speeds through interplanetary space. At Earth, they produce geomagnetic storms which disrupt our communications, endanger astronauts and, on the ground, produce compass deflections and, most visibly, the Northern Lights. The same mechanisms that result in a habitable Earth produce effects which shape the surfaces and atmospheres of the inner planets and give rise to the inhospitable conditions on the Moon, Mercury, Venus and, to a lesser extent, Mars. In order to understand these interlinked processes we need to make state of the art measurements of the environments of the Sun, the Planets and the Space in between. These include ground-based measurements and data from space probes both in orbit and on the surfaces of other planets. We can then develop the theories which explain these observations and enable us to predict when they will occur and how strongly they will affect our inner solar system environment. There is a virtuous circle whereby new observations produce new theories, new questions and hence new experimental techniques which allow us to make the next generation of observations. At Aberystwyth, we are world leaders in each of these stages. Our particular strengths are in X-ray and ultraviolet obserations of the Sun and planets, autonomous robots for exploring planetary surfaces and radar techniques to probe near-Earth and interplanetary space. At Aberystwyth we are the lead investigators for the X-ray instrument currently orbiting the Moon on the SMART-1 spacecraft, and its successor on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission due to arrive at the Moon in late 2007. We are also playing a leading role in the preparation of the X-ray instruments on the forthcoming BepiColombo mission to Mercury. Our world-leading robotics software would have given Beagle-2 autonomy in making measurements on the surface of Mars and will now be employed when Europe returns to Mars with the upcoming ExoMars mission. Investigators from Aberystwyth are also part of the teams of scientists behind instruments currently orbitting Venus, Mars and the Earth. Aberystwyth is making a unique step forward in probing the the interplanetary medium by observing the twinkling of stars in radar, known as interplanetary scintillation. At the Earth, we apply the technique of tomography, as used in medical scanning, to take snapshots and build three-dimensional pictures of the Earth's ionosphere. Our theory programme concentrates on understanding how the highly dynamic three-dimensional plasma structures can form on the Sun, erupt and accelerate into interplanetary space, and how these rapidly changing structures interact with the magnetic fields, atmospheres and surfaces of the inner planets. By testing our theories at other planets we improve our understanding of the processes which shape our own environment at the Earth. We build computer simulations of these theories which show us the complicated behaviour of the surface and atmosphere of the Sun, plasma clouds in interplanetary space and planetary atmospheres. The University has made a large-investment in the new technology of three-dimensional visualisation and virtual reality which is the only way to truely visualise and understand what is happening. Aberystwyth is unique in our ability to investigate each and every link in the chain of interaction which link the Sun, Earth and Planets. This puts us in an ideal position to understand how events in the inner solar system shape the environment in which we live.