Revolutionizing Space Weather Forecasting: NASA’s Dynamic Model of the Corona and Its Implications for Understanding Solar Activity

At NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, researchers utilized the Aitken, Electra, and Pleiades supercomputers to develop a dynamic model of the corona. By using near-real-time data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and ESA’s Solar Orbiter, they were able to accurately predict various features, such as the long streamers in the upper and lower left side of the image.

However, upon closer examination, it was noted that the streamers’ locations were slightly off when compared to actual images. This discrepancy is believed to be due to new activity occurring on the far side of the Sun that was not yet observed and therefore not included in the model.

Once this new activity was accounted for, the model more accurately matched the observational photos of the corona. This highlights the importance of continuously updating models with the latest data to improve their accuracy and reliability. The team’s work has significant implications for space weather forecasting and our understanding of solar activity.