Dr. Justin C. Kasper - Murchison Wide-field Array (MWA)
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The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an 8,000-antenna, 80-300 MHz,
imaging radio array under construction in Western Australia. MWA is
composed of hundreds of "tiles", which are 4 by 4 arrays of dipole
antennas. Some of the key performance features of MWA are
a large field of view (up to 50 degrees), high sensitivity (11,000 square meters of collecting area at 150 MHz), and accurate
real-time polarization and intensity calibration. Key science projects of the
MWA are understanding structure in the early universe through the
detection of the
Epoch of Reionization and remote imaging of magnetic and density
structure in the solar corona and inner heliosphere. The performance
required to meet the goal of our solar and cosmology science goals also
makes MWA well-suited for blind searches for
astrophysical radio transients.
For more information about MWA, including the status of the
project and recent results, visit the main MWA web site
here
I am a member of the Solar, Heliospheric, and Ionospheric (SHI)
science consortium for MWA. I am interested in using Faraday Rotation
as a remote means of determining the magnetic field of the corona, solar
wind, and corona mass ejections (CMEs). I am also interested
in using MWA to look at solar radio bursts and to study the
ionosphere. Over the years I have served as vice-chair of the SHI
consortium, and as chair. I was also chair of
the overall MWA Science Council for a couple years.
On the Radio: The Breathtaking Power And Beauty Of The Sun
The science, destruction, and beauty of the solar storm that's been blasting earth - from the breathtaking Aurora Borealis to future exploration of the sun itself. I was a guest for a one hour episode of WBUR talk show On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Stream the show and read background material on the Sun
here.
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NASA Science News: Solar Wind Energy Source Discovered
NASA wrote a news story based on a recent paper we published in Physical Review Letters on heating of the solar corona and solar wind. Click
here for the NASA article.