\n<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t11\/03\/2025<\/span> Help us uncover the secrets of the Sun! Our Solar Orbiter spacecraft has been watching the Sun since February 2020. With five years\u2019 worth of data waiting to be explored, it\u2019s time to dig in. The new \u2018Solar Radio Burst Tracker\u2019 Zooniverse project is ready for you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Every day,\u00a0the Sun blasts bursts of radio waves into space. These bursts are picked up by Solar Orbiter\u2019s Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument.<\/p>\n Five years of RPW data have now been divided into six-hour chunks, resulting in 15 000 radio wave graphs ready for scrutiny \u2013 far too many for one scientist alone.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cScientists have already tried to develop algorithms to detect these radio bursts automatically, but they are often less effective at identifying fainter or more complex bursts,\u201d says Katerina Pesini, who is leading the project as part of her PhD at Radboud University and Paris Observatory.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause some bursts are faint, distorted or fuzzy, we need human eyes!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Your task is straightforward. Inspect the graphs and outline all the radio bursts that you see. Katerina and her team have laid out detailed instructions and guidance on Zooniverse to help you out.<\/p>\n For reliable results, each of the 15 000 graphs will be inspected by eight different pairs of eyes. Your efforts will create the first catalogue of radio bursts from the Sun seen by Solar Orbiter, which covers the most recent years of solar activity.<\/p>\n *Text continues after video*<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This public databank of dates, times and intensities of radio bursts will help us understand more about how the Sun behaves and how its bursts of energy can affect planet Earth.<\/p>\n Katerina adds: \u201cAside from science, we will also use the catalogue to train artificial intelligence algorithms to spot the radio bursts automatically in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Katerina\u2019s PhD supervisors are the lead scientists working on RPW and the data it collects. This is the first time that Solar Orbiter scientists are inviting citizen scientists to explore mission data.<\/p>\n 2025 is an exciting year for the mission and for solar physics, with the Sun peaking in its 11-year cycle of \u2018waking up\u2019 and then calming down. We have seen evidence of this increasing activity over the past year with the northern lights visible across Europe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The radio bursts you are searching for follow this cycle. Known as \u2018Type III solar radio bursts\u2019, they are closely linked to solar flares, which are tremendous explosions of radiation from the Sun\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n Solar flares fling electrons out into space. As they interact with other charged particles around the Sun, these electrons release radio waves in a Type III radio burst. (Curious about other types of radio bursts? Click here)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n With the new catalogue of Type III radio burst data, Katerina will be able to explore in detail how radio burst activity varies during the solar cycle \u2013 something that was not previously possible.<\/p>\n Solar Orbiter is perfect for this research; the RPW instrument can detect even very weak radio waves, covers a wide range of radio frequencies, and will \u2013 for the first time ever \u2013 measure radio waves from close to the Sun\u2019s poles.<\/p>\n Help Katerina out by diving in here and track Type III solar radio bursts like nobody has done before.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t131<\/span> views<\/small><\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5<\/span> likes<\/small><\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n