St Edmund's College, Cambridge

College Fellow Helen Mason is leading a group of scientists who are shedding new light on the Sun. Helen and her colleagues at the University's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics have been collaborating on an international solar mission. The Hinode project has revealed new details and features of the Sun, and is helping to answer questions such as why the temperature of the Corona is so much greater than the surface of the Sun.

Dr Mason, who is also Senior Tutor of the College, said: "The Hinode satellite is providing us with some stunning new observations. We can see the Sun in far more detail than we were previously able to. The more detail we see, the more challenging it is to explain! I am so pleased that a younger generation of solar researchers have the opportunity to experience the excitement of working on new solar space observations."

Further details at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2008040902