“A lot of the flux ropes that have been studied formed at lower heights, but the 2012 flux rope formed at a remarkably higher altitude in the corona,” James says.
His current work includes modeling how this critical height varies across active regions of the corona over time. James hopes this will help to quantify the chances of CMEs happening and eventually produce a “five-day forecast of CMEs” to give us time to prepare.
“Alex digs hard to find the right evidence, and he is really honest with himself and everyone about what can and can’t be answered,” says David Williams, the instrument operations scientist for the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission. Those qualities, he says, are “vital if we’re going to give ourselves a fighting chance” of improving our ability to predict space weather.
Beyond the practical benefits of studying the Sun, James also appreciates how unique it is as an astronomical target. “I think it’s fascinating that we can study a star so close with high-resolution instruments to learn so much about it,” he says.
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