Title:” Observing Solar Activity in Lyman-Alpha Emission” by Dr Ryan Milligan (QUB)

Synopsis: The Lyman-alpha line of neutral hydrogen is the strongest emission line in the solar spectrum, and yet observations of solar activity at this fundamental wavelength have been scarce in recent decades.

In this talk I will discuss why studying the Sun’s Lyman-alpha emission is so important, particularly in the context of Space Weather. I will also give an overview some recent work that I have carried out on this topic as we await data from a range of new Lyman-alpha instruments during Solar Cycle 25.

Bio: Ryan graduated from QUB with a PhD in Solar Physics in 2006. He began his postdoctoral career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center under a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship working on the RHESSI mission performing multi-wavelength studies of solar flares.

In 2011 he returned to QUB under a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship but retained his NASA connections, receiving several research grants under the Living With A Star program that allowed him to divide his time between Belfast and Washington DC.

In 2016 he was awarded a prestigious STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship that he took to the University of Glasgow.

In 2019 he returned to QUB to take up the position of lecturer in astrophysics and is currently leading his own research group on solar flares and space weather.

He is also an avid solar eclipse chaser.