Science

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What are solar jets?

Solar jets are collimated (narrow) ejections of plasma in the solar atmosphere. The plasma in these jets is quite hot seen at ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. Jets can have various shapes, sizes and duration.

What is the difference between a solar jet and a coronal jet?

A coronal jet is a solar jet that occurs in the corona, which is the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere. The jets that are seen in this Zooniverse project are coronal jets.

How do solar jets form?

Solar jets likely arise from a sudden energy release in the solar atmosphere via magnetic reconnection (quick reconfiguration of magnetic fields). During this energy release, energy previously contained in the magnetic field is released to heat and move the plasma. However, the exact way solar jets form, and what triggers the energy release, are still debated among researchers. This project aims to better understand how solar jets are triggered and how they form and evolve.

What is the difference between solar jets and other features?

The solar atmosphere is very dynamic, and many different moving features can be seen in movies of the solar atmosphere. Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) also happen frequently in addition to jets. Jets have two main characteristics: they appear to be ejected out of the Sun and they are narrow features (collimated). You can refer to the field guide (see tab on the right) to see examples of jets and other solar features.

What is SDO/AIA?

The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) is a telescope onboard the Solar Dynamic Observatory, which is a satellite dedicated to the observation of the Sun that was launched by NASA in 2010. AIA provides high-resolution images of the Sun in several wavelengths of the ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet, every 12 seconds.

Research

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Why should I care about solar jets?

Solar jets are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and are valued by researcher for several reasons.
Jets are believed to be the result of energy release in the solar corona, and a route for solar energetic particles to escape the Sun and travel throughout the solar system. They could also reveal the origin of perturbations of the solar wind.
Understanding the physics of jets, and their connections to other solar phenomena, will lead to a more complete understanding of our star. It will also lead to greater understanding of the physics of magnetized natural plasma, in conditions difficult to reproduce in laboratories here on Earth.

How will identifying jets help further research?

Building a database of jets will provide a jumping-off point for researchers to study the physics of solar ejections. Researchers will be able to find interesting cases in this database, can compare with databases of other types of solar activity, and can do broad statistical studies of jet properties.

The project

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How were these images made?

These images are provided by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), a telescope onboard the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO spacecraft), which observes the Sun from space in the ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. The time and locations on the Sun for these images have been chosen using the Heliophysics Event Knowledgebase (HEK) which has a catalog of solar jets. The images are processed using the SDO cutout service. Both the HEK and the cutout service are provided by scientists from the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL).

What happens to my classifications?

Each event is classified and analyzed by many volunteers, and the different classifications are used to provide averaged information about each event. These average data will be used by researchers to classify the different jets and perform statistical analysis of the jets.
In the case of widely different classifications on some events, those are flagged as complex events to be examined closely by researchers.
Ultimately, the classifications will produce a database of events that will be publicly available and help researchers to investigate the physics of solar jets.

Who is funding this project?

This project is funded by NASA via the grant "Solar jet-associated energetic electrons escaping the Sun" that was awarded to a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota, the New-Jersey Institute of Technology, and the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory. Supporting funds are also provided by the National Science Foundation via a CAREER grant to the University of Minnesota. The European Space Agency is supporting the research activities of researcher Sophie Musset who is leading this project.

How many scientists are working on this project?

The team of scientists who are working or worked previously on this project is presented in the tab "The Team". It is formed of 11 scientists, including early career scientists and students in physics or astrophysics.