Current Images Of The Sun: These images represent data from Mauna Loa Solar Observatory instruments.
HAO General Inquiries: 303-497-2188
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04 January 2012–HAO scientist's Mausumi Dikpati, Peter Gilman, Giuliana de Toma, and UCLA professor Roger Ulrich find that the latitude at which plasma sinking occurs is very important.
LiveScience »
14 December 2011– Michael Wiltberger: Simulations from the Coupled Magnetosphere Ionosphere Thermosphere model offer an improved view of the dynamic charged-material exchanges generated during magnetic storms and the resulting effects on Earth.
LiveScience »
December 2011– The journal "Solar Physics" recently published a Topical Issue on The Sun-Earth Connection near Solar Minimum [web link], presenting articles based on studies ranging around the recent solar minimum, and more specifically, studies of the Whole Heliosphere Interval (WHI) [web link].
LSV News »
Scott McIntosh publications:
–7 January 2011, The origins of hot plasma in the solar corona. Science »
–28 July 2011, Alfvénic waves with sufficient energy...
Nature » | UCAR News »
Special Awards
Maura Hagan– HAO Scientist and NCAR Deputy Director:
• Fellow of the American Geophysical Union–Link »
• Fellow of the American Meteorological Soc.–Link »
Boon Chye Low– HAO Senior Scientist:
• Received the 2011 UCAR Outstanding Accomplishment Award for Mentoring–Link »
Matthias Rempel– HAO Scientist:
• Karen Harvey Prize for significant contribution to the study of the Sun, early in a person's professional career.
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1) COSMO In ChinaHAO Director Michael Thompson and Assistant Director for Instrumentation Steve Tomczyk recently visited China to discuss the COSMO project and other collaborations. Collaborators are pictured here, on a visit to the Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics & Technology (NIAOT). As well as visiting the Purple Mountain Observatory and NIAOT in Nanjing, Michael visited the National Space Science Center and National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, for discussions and exploration of future collaborations.
High Resolution Photo » -
2) Pioneering GOLD MissionSept. 2011: NASA announced that the Global Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission was selected for Phase-A Study. GOLD is a high-resolution ultraviolet spectrograph on a commercial communications satellite at geostationary orbit. Richard Eastes (UCF), is the PI. CU/LASP includes Instrument Scientist Bill McClintock and Proj. Manager Mark Lankton. HAO/NCAR leads the science team: Project Scientist Alan Burns.
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3) HiWind Launch14 June 2011: HAO's HiWind, a balloon-borne instrument that measures winds in the thermosphere, was launched from Esrange, Sweden. It ascended about 26 miles (43 kilometers) into the atmosphere and headed west across the Atlantic Ocean, passing above Greenland on its way to Canada in round-the-clock sunlight.
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4) HiWind's Recovery Mission17 June 2011: HAO's HiWind data and payload was successfully recovered! HiWind is the first balloon-borne FPI to measure the daytime thermospheric winds that are critically needed for space weather research. The HiWind payload has modest pointing requirements combined with a modest weight.
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5) K-Coronagraph PDRThe K-Coronagraph successfully completed its PDR (Preliminary Design Review) and will now move forward towards completion of the instrument build in 2012 —starting full operations at Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in the Summer of 2013.
High Resolution Photo » -
6) Slowdown in Solar Activity21 June 2011: The Sun drives our climate, so a slowdown in solar activity would surely put the brakes on global warming—wouldn't it? That question percolated through the media following a set of reports from a solar physics meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Read More » | SPD Meeting » -
7) Sun-Earth ConnectionsMay 2011: An exciting new exhibit was completed and is now open to staff and public at NCAR's Mesa Lab. Sun-Earth Connections, a joint project between EO and HAO, is located on the lab's mezzanine opposite the Main Seminar Room.
Read More »
Martin (Marty) Mlynczak is a senior research scientist in the Climate Science Branch at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. He has been an affiliate scientist at HAO since 2000.
Marty's research is centered on understanding the climate of the whole atmosphere, troposphere to upper thermosphere. He is particularly focused on understanding the infrared radiative processes responsible for cooling the atmosphere and he currently leads (or has led) several satellite, ground-based, aircraft, balloon, and suborbital rocket experiments to observe infrared emissions in the entire sensible atmosphere. — Read More »
Link to index of HAO affiliate scientists 
HAO is proud to announce that Senior Scientist, Boon Chye (BC) Low, won the 2011 UCAR Outstanding Accomplishment Award for Mentoring. BC joined the High Altitude Observatory in 1981. During his 30-year-long career as an NCAR scientist (and a very productive one at that), BC has helped to enhance the professional development of numerous students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior scientists at NCAR. A brilliant theoretical and mathematical physicist himself, he has not only provided his protégés scientific and technical guidance, but more distinctively, he has inspired them with his enthusiasm and his wisdom. He is, on the one hand, selfless in devoting his time and effort to providing an enriching and supportive environment for his protégés, while also treating them as equals and giving them independence and freedom in their research and development. — Read More »