Matthew J West
@solarphysicist.bsky.social
A solar scientist and the ESA Vigil Mission Scientist, interested in the extended solar atmosphere. I also dabble in a bit of art and outreach
Reposted by Matthew J West
Space weather isn’t just about lovely displays of the aurora. There is a very real impact on our technology too.
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
November 19, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Space weather isn’t just about lovely displays of the aurora. There is a very real impact on our technology too.
Proud to have contributed to the new SCOSTEP roadmap for 2026–30!
SCOSTEP = the global body coordinating research on Sun–Earth connections. The new programme, COURSE, lays out the scientific priorities for the next 5 years.
Exciting times ahead for heliophysics!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
SCOSTEP = the global body coordinating research on Sun–Earth connections. The new programme, COURSE, lays out the scientific priorities for the next 5 years.
Exciting times ahead for heliophysics!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 19, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Proud to have contributed to the new SCOSTEP roadmap for 2026–30!
SCOSTEP = the global body coordinating research on Sun–Earth connections. The new programme, COURSE, lays out the scientific priorities for the next 5 years.
Exciting times ahead for heliophysics!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
SCOSTEP = the global body coordinating research on Sun–Earth connections. The new programme, COURSE, lays out the scientific priorities for the next 5 years.
Exciting times ahead for heliophysics!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Proud to see ESA’s Vigil mission featured in the CRO Forum’s new report on space-related risks.
From L5, Vigil will boost early warning for solar storms — a key step for protecting critical infrastructure on Earth ☀️💨🛰️🌍
📄 thecroforum.org/wp-content/u...
From L5, Vigil will boost early warning for solar storms — a key step for protecting critical infrastructure on Earth ☀️💨🛰️🌍
📄 thecroforum.org/wp-content/u...
November 14, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Proud to see ESA’s Vigil mission featured in the CRO Forum’s new report on space-related risks.
From L5, Vigil will boost early warning for solar storms — a key step for protecting critical infrastructure on Earth ☀️💨🛰️🌍
📄 thecroforum.org/wp-content/u...
From L5, Vigil will boost early warning for solar storms — a key step for protecting critical infrastructure on Earth ☀️💨🛰️🌍
📄 thecroforum.org/wp-content/u...
Here's a picture of me *not* driving an imaginary car 🚗 — but explaining how the consistent, calibrated nature of Vigil’s ☀️💨🛰️🌍data products will make them ideal for training and deployment with machine learning and AI forecasting tools. In ESWW2025 TDM13: events.spacepole.be/event/222/se...
November 4, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Here's a picture of me *not* driving an imaginary car 🚗 — but explaining how the consistent, calibrated nature of Vigil’s ☀️💨🛰️🌍data products will make them ideal for training and deployment with machine learning and AI forecasting tools. In ESWW2025 TDM13: events.spacepole.be/event/222/se...
Reposted by Matthew J West
Oooh, quite an exciting result ahead of the SMILE mission - it will be able to remotely observe and track solar wind composition.
academic.oup.com/rasti/advanc...
#heliophysics
academic.oup.com/rasti/advanc...
#heliophysics
SMILE SXI can be used to track solar wind composition
Abstract. Continuous monitoring of solar wind ion composition is essential for understanding solar-terrestrial interactions, particularly the Solar Wind Ch
academic.oup.com
October 14, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Oooh, quite an exciting result ahead of the SMILE mission - it will be able to remotely observe and track solar wind composition.
academic.oup.com/rasti/advanc...
#heliophysics
academic.oup.com/rasti/advanc...
#heliophysics
I like making confuse-o-grams that include *all* the details. Help me make this more confusing - what can I add that I'm missing?
October 22, 2025 at 10:55 AM
I like making confuse-o-grams that include *all* the details. Help me make this more confusing - what can I add that I'm missing?
🎉Happy Hamilton Day! Sir William Hamilton gave us Hamiltonian mechanics⚙️
His formulation H=T+V underpins orbital dynamics, spacecraft trajectories, and plasma physics
No Hamiltonian Mechanics→No knowledge of L5 Lagrange point→No perfect spot for a space-weather mission-ESA’s Vigil🌞💨🌍
His formulation H=T+V underpins orbital dynamics, spacecraft trajectories, and plasma physics
No Hamiltonian Mechanics→No knowledge of L5 Lagrange point→No perfect spot for a space-weather mission-ESA’s Vigil🌞💨🌍
October 21, 2025 at 8:35 AM
🎉Happy Hamilton Day! Sir William Hamilton gave us Hamiltonian mechanics⚙️
His formulation H=T+V underpins orbital dynamics, spacecraft trajectories, and plasma physics
No Hamiltonian Mechanics→No knowledge of L5 Lagrange point→No perfect spot for a space-weather mission-ESA’s Vigil🌞💨🌍
His formulation H=T+V underpins orbital dynamics, spacecraft trajectories, and plasma physics
No Hamiltonian Mechanics→No knowledge of L5 Lagrange point→No perfect spot for a space-weather mission-ESA’s Vigil🌞💨🌍
Reposted by Matthew J West
Tagging this so the #heliophysics feed picks it up!
There's more magnetic field in the solar wind than models based on the observed solar surface suggest. This is the so-called "open flux problem". Here's an interesting new solution: helicity condensation - highly twisted magnetic field at the small scale relaxes and affects the large scale field.
Paper day📄Delighted to announce that my paper has officially been published in The Astrophysical Journal this morning! How much contribution can the mechanism of helicity condensation alone contribute toward resolving the Open Flux Problem? ➡️ iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
June 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Tagging this so the #heliophysics feed picks it up!
Reposted by Matthew J West
In a recent HAO/NCAR Colloquium, Philip G. Judge explained the context and motivation of his recent study on "Changing Methodologies in Solar Physics". #SolarPhysics 300, 84 (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s112... #OpenAccess youtu.be/YwFgM7XEtJs
Changing methodologies in solar physics 2025 05 21
YouTube video by High Altitude Observatory HAO | NCAR
youtu.be
June 23, 2025 at 10:40 AM
In a recent HAO/NCAR Colloquium, Philip G. Judge explained the context and motivation of his recent study on "Changing Methodologies in Solar Physics". #SolarPhysics 300, 84 (2025). doi.org/10.1007/s112... #OpenAccess youtu.be/YwFgM7XEtJs
Another day, another solar and heliophysics first — @ORB_KSB and @esa.int have created a unique eclipse in space! 🌍☀️🌘
The first formation-flying coronagraph: two spacecraft flying 150 m apart, perfectly aligned to block the Sun and reveal its hot corona.
Find out more:
www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
The first formation-flying coronagraph: two spacecraft flying 150 m apart, perfectly aligned to block the Sun and reveal its hot corona.
Find out more:
www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
June 17, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Another day, another solar and heliophysics first — @ORB_KSB and @esa.int have created a unique eclipse in space! 🌍☀️🌘
The first formation-flying coronagraph: two spacecraft flying 150 m apart, perfectly aligned to block the Sun and reveal its hot corona.
Find out more:
www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
The first formation-flying coronagraph: two spacecraft flying 150 m apart, perfectly aligned to block the Sun and reveal its hot corona.
Find out more:
www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Reposted by Matthew J West
Solar astronomer @stephyardley.bsky.social joins BBC Science in Action this week to explain why the new polar views of the Sun, from ESA's Solar Orbiter, will make such a difference in unravelling the Sun's magnetic turmoil and what drives the 11-yr cycle in activity.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
BBC World Service - Science In Action, The First Solar Polar Pictures
ESA’s Solar Orbiter camera probe begins raising its orbit towards the sun’s poles.
www.bbc.co.uk
June 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Solar astronomer @stephyardley.bsky.social joins BBC Science in Action this week to explain why the new polar views of the Sun, from ESA's Solar Orbiter, will make such a difference in unravelling the Sun's magnetic turmoil and what drives the 11-yr cycle in activity.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Pleased as PUNCH -pardon the pun(CH) to see these amazing images - led by the great @drzowie.bsky.social - the first full sky heliospheric images from PUNCH capturing a couple of eruptions - The next generation of space weather heliospheric instrumentation will be polarized like PUNCH - #trendsetter
Hey! Lookie what PUNCH (@punch-mission.bsky.social) just saw! Two different solar storms crossing the entire inner solar system! NASA's site doesn't thumbnail well, so click the link for the movie and other images. ☀️🔭🛰️🧪
science.nasa.gov/blogs/punch/...
science.nasa.gov/blogs/punch/...
June 12, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Pleased as PUNCH -pardon the pun(CH) to see these amazing images - led by the great @drzowie.bsky.social - the first full sky heliospheric images from PUNCH capturing a couple of eruptions - The next generation of space weather heliospheric instrumentation will be polarized like PUNCH - #trendsetter
Just to reiterate. This is the FIRST 🥇view of the solar poles. This is astonishing and shows what we, humans, can achieve
Ready to see the Sun like we never have before? 😎
#SolarOrbiter has just released the first views ever of the Sun’s poles!
Thanks to its newly tilted orbit, the mission will uncover details about the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle & space weather 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭 🧪 ☄️ ☀️ 1/
#SolarOrbiter has just released the first views ever of the Sun’s poles!
Thanks to its newly tilted orbit, the mission will uncover details about the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle & space weather 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭 🧪 ☄️ ☀️ 1/
June 12, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Just to reiterate. This is the FIRST 🥇view of the solar poles. This is astonishing and shows what we, humans, can achieve
Reposted by Matthew J West
This is a new tool to look at @science.esa.int #SolarOrbiter imaging data (or data from other missions) and the field of views of different instruments.
hpa.esa.int/hpa/#/home
hpa.esa.int/hpa/#/home
June 5, 2025 at 11:27 AM
This is a new tool to look at @science.esa.int #SolarOrbiter imaging data (or data from other missions) and the field of views of different instruments.
hpa.esa.int/hpa/#/home
hpa.esa.int/hpa/#/home
Looking at X-ray Flux Monitors today—instruments that detect solar X-ray bursts. They're used in #SpaceWeather☀️☔ studies, helping understand solar☀️flares that can disrupt comms📡, satellites & aviation✈️. Attached an X-ray light curve from 2014 showing confined flares- with no associated eruptions
June 5, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Looking at X-ray Flux Monitors today—instruments that detect solar X-ray bursts. They're used in #SpaceWeather☀️☔ studies, helping understand solar☀️flares that can disrupt comms📡, satellites & aviation✈️. Attached an X-ray light curve from 2014 showing confined flares- with no associated eruptions
Reposted by Matthew J West
The National Solar Observatory's 4-meter Inouye Solar Telescope, funded by NSF, just discovered something new on the Sun: magnetic striations only a few tens of kilometers across, which affect the Texas-sized granules that carry solar energy to the surface (to become sunlight)! ☀️🧪🔭⚛️
Magnetic Curtains on the Sun: NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Reveals Ultra-Fine Striations in Solar Surface - NSO - National Solar Observatory
In a groundbreaking new study, a team led by scientists from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Solar Observatory (NSO) has captured the sharpest-ever view of the Sun’s surface, revea...
nso.edu
June 4, 2025 at 2:47 AM
The National Solar Observatory's 4-meter Inouye Solar Telescope, funded by NSF, just discovered something new on the Sun: magnetic striations only a few tens of kilometers across, which affect the Texas-sized granules that carry solar energy to the surface (to become sunlight)! ☀️🧪🔭⚛️
The Sun 🌞 — our source of space weather ☔ — needs constant watching. Who knows what it’ll throw at us next? @ESA #Vigil ☀️👁️🗨️🌍.
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/check...
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/check...
June 4, 2025 at 9:58 AM
The Sun 🌞 — our source of space weather ☔ — needs constant watching. Who knows what it’ll throw at us next? @ESA #Vigil ☀️👁️🗨️🌍.
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/check...
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/check...
Wrapping up another fascinating @ESA #Vigil👁️🗨 instrument day — at Leonardo S.p.A. Florence Italy — focused on the Vigil Heliospheric Imager. HI will be instrumental (pun intended) in tracking Coronal Mass Ejections💨 & space weather☔ from Sun🌞 to Earth🌍. Heres a representative STEREO HI image Jun 2011
June 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Wrapping up another fascinating @ESA #Vigil👁️🗨 instrument day — at Leonardo S.p.A. Florence Italy — focused on the Vigil Heliospheric Imager. HI will be instrumental (pun intended) in tracking Coronal Mass Ejections💨 & space weather☔ from Sun🌞 to Earth🌍. Heres a representative STEREO HI image Jun 2011
Reposted by Matthew J West
Great connection here! Indeed there is an aurora producing storm happening www.swpc.noaa.gov, though will likely have passed by this evening US time.
June 1, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Great connection here! Indeed there is an aurora producing storm happening www.swpc.noaa.gov, though will likely have passed by this evening US time.
Reposted by Matthew J West
Such lovely detail! Zoom in and discover the varied features of the Sun’s atmosphere.
☀️🛰️New mosaic image of Solar Orbiter! 🤩
In March 2025, @orb-ksb.bsky.social combined 200 high-res images of the Sun into a stunning mosaic. Each of those images is taken by our EUI telescope onboard Solar Orbiter when it was 77 million km from the Sun. 🔭🧪 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... @science.esa.int
In March 2025, @orb-ksb.bsky.social combined 200 high-res images of the Sun into a stunning mosaic. Each of those images is taken by our EUI telescope onboard Solar Orbiter when it was 77 million km from the Sun. 🔭🧪 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... @science.esa.int
Solar Orbiter’s widest high-res view of the Sun
Solar Orbiter’s widest high-resolution view of the Sun
www.esa.int
April 25, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Such lovely detail! Zoom in and discover the varied features of the Sun’s atmosphere.
Reposted by Matthew J West
🛰️ 🛰️ ☀️ #Proba3 is now officially the world’s first precision formation flying mission! The mission team has achieved the desired precision – with the two spacecraft maintaining their relative position down to less than a millimetre while flying 150 metres apart! www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
May 8, 2025 at 8:16 AM
🛰️ 🛰️ ☀️ #Proba3 is now officially the world’s first precision formation flying mission! The mission team has achieved the desired precision – with the two spacecraft maintaining their relative position down to less than a millimetre while flying 150 metres apart! www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Reposted by Matthew J West
Amazing clarity from the NSF-funded Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory! ☀️🔭🧪
“Raindrops in the Sun’s Corona”: New Adaptive Optics Shows Stunning Details of our Star’s Atmosphere - NSO - National Solar Observatory
Scientists from the U.S. NSF National Solar Observatory and New Jersey Institute of Technology produced the finest images in the Sun’s corona to date. Using a new 'coronal adaptive optics' system that...
nso.edu
May 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Amazing clarity from the NSF-funded Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory! ☀️🔭🧪
Just wrapped up a fascinating day at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, discussing the Photospheric Magnetic Imager for the @esa #Vigil mission — including a tour of the facilities where both it will be and the Solar Orbiter PHI instrument were developed.
May 27, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Just wrapped up a fascinating day at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, discussing the Photospheric Magnetic Imager for the @esa #Vigil mission — including a tour of the facilities where both it will be and the Solar Orbiter PHI instrument were developed.
Professor Jonathan Eastwood, lead for the @esa #Vigil MAG instrument, delivers his @ImperialCollegeLDN Inaugural Lecture:
🎓 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6X...
🎓 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6X...
The relentless sun: how do we live with severe space weather?
YouTube video by Imperial College London
www.youtube.com
May 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Professor Jonathan Eastwood, lead for the @esa #Vigil MAG instrument, delivers his @ImperialCollegeLDN Inaugural Lecture:
🎓 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6X...
🎓 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6X...