We often forget that the closest star to us is the Sun. This privileged position allows us to study its functioning in detail that would otherwise be impossible to achieve. From Galileo’s first observations to the most recent explorations with space probes, we have reached the point of being able to make “space weather forecasts” that help us predict the consequences of solar activity on our planet, but there is still much to discover.

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Speakers:

Silvano Fineschi has more than 30 years of experience in the field of space instrumentation for the study of the Sun. He served as director of the Turin Astrophysical Observatory until 2023. He is involved in several solar space missions: such as the Solar Heliospheric Observatory in gravitational libration orbit between Earth and the Sun and the Solar Orbiter, in close orbit around the Sun. The study of the star we live with – the Sun – has led him to participate in observation campaigns in Antarctica and launches of telescopes on sounding rockets. Currently, he is participating in the PROBA-3 mission which with two satellites in flight formation will create an artificial eclipse to study the outer atmosphere of the Sun: the corona.

Mariarita Murabito is a young researcher at the Rome Astronomical Observatory for the Space Science data center of ASI. Her research focuses on the study of the lower solar atmosphere which includes the photosphere and the chromosphere. In particular, using data acquired with ground-based and space-based telescopes, he studies the physical processes that lead to the birth and death of sunspots. His observational work has taken place at telescopes in the Canary Islands and the United States.