Research Groups of the department "Sun and Heliosphere"

Our main goal is to understand the structure, dynamics and heating of solar and stellar coronae. These outer atmospheres are heated to temperatures of more than a million degrees and show a large spatial and temporal variability. To reach our goal we analyse spectroscopic, imaging and stereoscopic observations acquired in extreme ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths, perform magnetic field extrapolations and run numerical magneto-hydrodynamics simulations.

The research group “Solar Lower Atmosphere and Magnetism” (SLAM) studies the conditions and dynamic processes in the atmospheric layer between the solar surface (photosphere) and the chromosphere, an approximately 2000 km thick gas layer visible as a red ring during total solar eclipses. Physical parameters like temperature, wind and flow speeds, or the magnetic fields are determined using ground-based, balloon-borne and space-based telescopes. more

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) describes the dynamical interaction between flows and magnetic fields in a electrically conducting dense plasma. The work of the group is mainly concerned with MHD processes in the interior and atmosphere of the Sun and other stars. Using numerical simulations and analytical tools, this work aims at understanding the origins of solar and stellar magnetism as well as its rich variety of observable manifestations in the stellar atmospheres in the form of magnetic structures. more

Radiation from the Sun makes Earth a habitable planet. Fluctuations in the solar radiative output are therefore likely to affect the climate on Earth, but establishing both how the output of the Sun varies and how such variations influence Earth's climate have proved tricky.  Increased amounts of data from the Sun and about the climate on Earth over recent years means that rapid progress is being made.  This work is aimed at understanding solar variability and the Sun's influence on the Earths' climate. more