3 hours credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topics may include the following:
- Topic 1: Heliospheric Physics. The connection between the Sun and solar wind. Formation of transient events such as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), co-rotating interaction regions, solar energetic particles, plasma waves, pickup ions and mass loading, anomalous cosmic rays, heliospheric boundaries and interaction with the local interstellar medium, energetic neutral atoms (ENAs).
- Topic 2: Magnetospheric Physics. Earth’s bow shock, magnetopause, magnetotail, plasma sheet, ring current and plasmasphere. Current systems, reconnection, magnetospheric storms and substorms, ionospheric interactions, aurora borealis. The geocorona and ENA emissions.
- Topic 3: Ionospheric Physics. Structure and dynamics of the mesosphere-thermosphere-ionosphere system, including formation of the ionosphere, aeronomy, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling and aurorae. Active and passive radio and optical experimental methods, and in situ diagnostics.
- Topic 4: Planetary Science. Planets, planetary atmospheres, and planetary magnetospheres. Planetary formation, composition, dynamics, end evolution of the solar system. Comparative planetology, interplanetary dust, comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects. Extra-solar planets, astrobiology, exobiology, and the search for life beyond Earth.
- Topic 5: Astronomical Instrumentation. This lab-based class presents the basic building blocks of instrument development, including optical design, mechanical design, electronical readout and control design, and signal processing. The students work within groups to develop instrument sub-systems, culminating in a final project to fabricate a functional spectrograph. The design principles come from the astronomical instrumentation history but are broadly applicable to a range of scientific and engineering disciplines focused on the detection and processing of signals from light-emitting sources.