Public Lectures

Gary Rottman—LASP scientist from 1972-2005 and the first SORCE principal investigator from 1989-2005—will discuss LASP’s decades of solar science missions and the contribution of SORCE to the critical, continuous solar data record. Rottman directed the development, launch, and early operations of SORCE until his retirement in 2005. [Full abstract on lecture web page.]

In this presentation, Libera principal investigator and LASP scientist Peter Pilewskie will discuss the Libera mission objectives and expected improvements in the understanding of Earth’s radiative energy budget and climate. [Full abstract on lecture web page.]

LASP software engineer Wendy Carande will discuss how machine learning is applied to the data collected at LASP. From predicting when a large solar flare is likely to occur to identifying outliers in telemetry data, machine learning has become a valuable tool for many LASP projects, but it has also presented challenges that will be explored.​ [Full abstract on lecture web page.]

SPECIAL JANUARY LECTURE
LASP scientist Fran Bagenal will show how Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has been observed by telescopes on Earth as well as from spacecraft near Jupiter. The storm has noticeably shrunk in size over the past 40 years…Will it disappear? Will it grow back to the size it was during the Voyager epoch? [Full abstract on lecture web page.]

In this talk, LASP scientist Dave Brain will explain why it’s obviously true that planets require magnetic fields in order to be habitable. And then he will explain why it’s obviously false. Finally, he will discuss different approaches to answering the question and summarize the progress that has been made over the past few years, including by an international team of scientists led out of LASP.