Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR) have captured the Oct. 14 solar eclipse in a way never seen before — recording the first radio images of an annular eclipse’s famous “ring of fire” effect.

The eclipse was partially visible to much of the continental U.S. for several hours that Saturday, though the full “ring of fire” effect was only visible for less than five minutes, and only for those within its 125-mile-wide path of annularity.

With data from Big Bear Solar Observatory’s Goode Solar Telescope, researchers discover intense wave energy in the coldest region on the Sun, the sunspot umbra, which is driving puzzling temperatures in the star’s upper atmosphere.    

Nearly five thousand kilometers above the Sun’s surface lies a century-old question for solar physicists — how are temperatures in the star’s upper atmosphere, or corona, hundreds of times hotter than temperatures at the Sun’s visible surface?

National Science Foundation (NSF) awards five-year grant support for Big Bear Solar Observatory research through the maximum of Solar Cycle 25, when the Sun’s explosive activity is expected to peak.

A New Jersey Institute of Technology research team led by physics professor Wenda Cao at the university’s Center for Solar Terrestrial Research (CSTR) has been awarded a $4.64 million National Science Foundation grant to continue leading explorations of the Sun’s explosive activity at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO).

A solar radio burst with a signal pattern, akin to that of a heartbeat, has been pinpointed in the Sun’s atmosphere, according to a new study.

In findings published in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of researchers has reported uncovering the source location of a radio signal coming from within a C-class solar flare more than 5,000 kilometers above the Sun’s surface.

Bin Chen, associate professor of physics and researcher at NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR), has been awarded the 2023 Karen Harvey Prize from the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for “significantly advancing” our understanding of the fundamental physics driving the largest explosions in our solar system — solar flares.

Solar flares are among the most violent explosions in our solar system, but despite their immense energy — equivalent to a hundred billion atomic bombs detonating at once — physicists still haven’t been able to answer exactly how these sudden eruptions on the Sun are able to launch particles to Earth, nearly 93 million miles away, in under an hour.

Satoshi Inoue, assistant professor of physics and member of the Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) at NJIT, is investigating a mysterious connection between two of space’s most powerful explosions as part of a new CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

Inoue joins a select group of researchers by earning the CAREER award — one of the NSF’s most prestigious awards designed to support early-career researchers and their development as faculty-mentors. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has appointed Wenda Cao, physics professor and director of the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) of NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR), to its Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC). 

New findings published Jan. 27 in the journal Nature Astronomy have called into question decades of theoretical understanding used by astrophysicists to interpret an observational phenomenon central to understanding energy released during powerful eruptions from the Sun, known as solar flares.

Scientists at NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) are joining a new research project, led by researchers at the University of Minnesota (UMN) with support from NASA, which will give volunteering citizen-scientists the chance to contribute toward our understanding of explosive activity on the Sun — all from the comfort of their own computers.