In Turin, the interest in space solar physics, aimed to study flares and eruptions, dates back to the eighties, thanks to the Italian involvement in the Solar Maximum Mission. Later on the Turin solar physics group had a key role in the development and operations of the UVCS instrument, observing the corona on-board the SOHO spacecraft (launched in 1995) in a flawless manner for 16 years. The team is presently coordinating the Metis project for the ESA-Solar Orbiter mission. Metis is developed in collaboration with the Italian space solar physics community. The group is also involved in the ASPIICS project for the Proba-3 ESA mission.

Personnel

Researchers: S. Fineschi, L. Abbo, A. Bemporad, C. Benna, G. Capobianco,  A. Cora, F. Landini, S. Giordano, S. Mancuso, G. Massone, G. Nicolini, M. Pancrazzi, R. Susino, D. Telloni, A. Volpicelli, L. Zangrilli.

External collaborators:  E. Antonucci, M. Casti

Postdocs:  F. Frassati, R. Biondo

PhD students:: E. Amato, F. Frascella, H. Haudemand

Main Research Fields

Physics of the solar corona, understanding the origin and evolution of the main drivers of Geomagnetic Storms: Solar Wind and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

Methods

  • Development of coronal instrumentation for future space missions and ground based observations.
  • Coordination of observational campaigns from space and ground (total solar eclipses).
  • Development of diagnostic techniques for the analysis of coronagraphic and spectroscopic data acquired from space and ground.
  • Modelling of coronal emission for data analysis and inversion.
  • Archiving and cataloguing space solar data (the SOLAR archive includes the data of 11 over 12 SOHO instruments) and in particular coronal data (UVCS) and in the future Metis (Solar Orbiter), and ASPIICS (PROBA-3).

Contacts:

Alessandro Bemporad Email: alessandro.bemporad at inaf.it
Silvano Fineschi Email: silvano.fineschi at inaf.it

Projects