NuSTAR

Abstract

This SNSF grant supports planning and analysis of observations taken by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) satellite, a NASA small Explorer space mission. NuSTAR is the next generation of X-ray observatories. It was successfully launched in June 2012 and provides a 200-fold advance in hard X-ray sensitivity over current capabilities that will open up entirely new view of astrophysical objects in X-rays including our Sun. The newly established group in Applied High-Energy Heliophysics at University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) funded by this grant is part of the NuSTAR science team in charge of NuSTAR observations of our Sun. The main goal of this grant is to study why the solar atmosphere at temperatures of several million degrees is that much hotter than the solar surface at 6000 degree. With the extraordinary increase in sensitivity provided by NuSTAR, we will be able to test the so-called nanoflare heating theory predicting that many tiny explosions seen in X-rays provide enough energy to keep the solar atmosphere at that extraordinary hot temperature.