Toomre

Senior research associate Brad Hindman of the Toomre group uses helioseismology to understand what’s happening under the surface of the Sun. Helioseismology is a lot like the ultrasound tests used to evaluate medical conditions. However, there’s a big difference: physicians already have a good idea of the basic structures they are probing with sound waves. Helioseismologists don’t. They study sound that travels below the Sun’s surface to learn about the structure and behavior of the Sun’s convection zone, which comprises the outer third of the Sun. Read more »

Our comfortably middle-aged Sun completes a rotation once every 28 days. In contrast, young Sun-like stars spin much faster, sometimes whipping around 10 times as quickly. According to widely accepted theory, these young suns build magnetic fields in their convection zones by dynamo processes. Observations of these stars indicate strong magnetic activity. In most stellar dynamo theories, these young stars behave just like our Sun does now. However, this assumption is being challenged by simulations created by graduate student Ben Brown, Fellow Juri Toomre, and former JILAns Matthew Browning (Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics), Sacha Brun (CEA-Saclay in France), and Mark Miesch (NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory). Read more »