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Matthew J West

@solarphysicist.bsky.social
188 followers 30 following 28 posts

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

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Reposted by Matthew J West
ESA Operations @operations.esa.int · 24/02/2026
At ESA’s 2025 Ministerial Conference, the Space Safety Programme received significant support for its mission to predict, detect and mitigate space hazards, and to build towards a sustainable future in orbit. This is what we’re working on 👇 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
esa.int
ESA Space Safety Fleet
ESA Space Safety Fleet
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ESA Operations @operations.esa.int · 17/02/2026
Usually, we move a satellite out of the way of space debris. But what if we could prevent collisions by moving the debris instead? Meet OMLET: laser-based collision avoidance from the ground: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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Living Reviews | Solar Physics @livingrev-solphys.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
2025 Kees de Jager Prize For the Best Article in the journal #SolarPhysics of 2024 link.springer.com/journal/1120...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
A fascinating space-weather event! 🌞 Great use of SOHO/EIT data (that green movie👇) to show how high-energy particles can impact satellites (as well as aviation). As SOHO marks 30 years, it’s a great reminder of how transformative this mission has been for heliophysics ☀️💨🛰️💨🌍and space
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 16/12/2025
Here's a release that came out of @swri.org this morning. You'll want to click through and see our awesome movies of the inner solar system! We just presented them at the #AGU2025 meeting this morning. 🧪🛰️🔭☀️
swri.org
SwRI-led PUNCH mission producing unprecedented images of Sun | Southwest Research Institute
NASA spacecraft also tracks space weather events, comets and more
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
📣 New outreach poster: ESA’s Vigil Mission ☀️💨🛰️💨🌍 The Space-weather “reporter” will monitor the Sun from the Lagrange point 5, reporting 24/7 solar activity days before it reaches Earth. www.esa.int/var/esa/stor...
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Prof Lucie Green @luciegreen.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Space weather isn’t just about lovely displays of the aurora. There is a very real impact on our technology too.
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
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...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
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...
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Mathew Owens @mathewjowens.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
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
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
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
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?
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
🎉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🌞💨🌍
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Fantastic few days at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies with the brilliant Peter Gallagher — great discussions on #AI and ESA’s #Vigil mission. Exciting times ahead: AI forecasting will be helping us very soon! 🌞🤖
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 25/06/2025
Tagging this so the #heliophysics feed picks it up!
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Living Reviews | Solar Physics @livingrev-solphys.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
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
youtu.be
Changing methodologies in solar physics 2025 05 21
YouTube video by High Altitude Observatory HAO | NCAR
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
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...
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Roland Pease @peaseroland.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
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...
bbc.co.uk
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.
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
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
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Just to reiterate. This is the FIRST 🥇view of the solar poles. This is astonishing and shows what we, humans, can achieve
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Christian Möstl @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
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
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
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
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 04/06/2025
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)! ☀️🧪🔭⚛️
nso.edu
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...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
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...
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/check_engine.png
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
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
Image of the solar corona, taken by the SECCHI inner Heliospheric Imager (HI-1) on the STEREO Ahead observatory on June 22, 2011 at 19:29:01 UT.
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Nick Gross @concernedphysicist.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
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.
swpc.noaa.gov
Homepage | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Prof Lucie Green @luciegreen.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Such lovely detail! Zoom in and discover the varied features of the Sun’s atmosphere.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 08/05/2025
🛰️ 🛰️ ☀️ #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...
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Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 27/05/2025
Amazing clarity from the NSF-funded Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory! ☀️🔭🧪
nso.edu
“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...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
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.
Solar orbiter Phi flight sparesMax Plank vacuum chamberMax Plank engineering roomGöttingen town centre
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Professor Jonathan Eastwood, lead for the @esa #Vigil MAG instrument, delivers his @ImperialCollegeLDN Inaugural Lecture: 🎓 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6X...
youtube.com
The relentless sun: how do we live with severe space weather?
YouTube video by Imperial College London
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Reposted by Matthew J West
Living Reviews | Solar Physics @livingrev-solphys.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
It's a good day to pitch our ongoing #PUNCH open-access article collection in the journal #SolarPhysics: "The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Mission: An Overview" link.springer.com/collections/...
Article Collection Description: 
PUNCH is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission to better understand how the mass and energy of the Sun’s corona become the solar wind that fills the solar system. Planned to start science operations 2025, four suitcase-sized satellites will work together to produce wide-field 3D images of the entire inner solar system around the clock.
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Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 12/03/2025
It is a fine morning here in Denver though I am still groggy from taking the 5am flight from California. NYT has a great article on SPHEREx and PUNCH. Thanks, Katrina Miller! ☀️🔭🛰️🚀😎
nytimes.com
SpaceX Launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions (Gift Article)
The SPHEREx telescope will create the most colorful map of the cosmos, while the four satellites of the PUNCH mission track the evolution of the solar wind in three dimensions.
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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
The attacks on universities are speeding up, not slowing down The university sector *must* band together and stop acquiescing in advance (looking at you Columbia) bsky.app/profile/wsj....
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
at @AirbusintheUK for the @esa.int #Vigil Instrument Day to discuss the 6 instruments going 🚀 to L5 (side of the Sun-Earth line ☀️-🌍): Compact Coronagraph (CCOR); Heliospheric Imager (HI); Plasma Analyzer (PLA); Magnetometer (MAG); Photospheric Magnetic Field Imager (PMI); EUV Imager (JEDI)
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Attending Max Alexander’s exhibition ‘Life in the Sun’s Atmosphere’ at #Lloyds of London: www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds.... Lloyd’s highlights extreme space weather risks—latest scenario shows potential $2.4trn global loss. The #ESA Vigil mission will help mitigate this
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Mathew Owens @mathewjowens.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
You can use this link, for those refusing to install the app: www.facebook.com/off_facebook...
facebook.com
Redirecting...
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Lovely Leiden in the fog
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Mickey the space cat, the big boss at #esa #estec, judging me for going home and depriving him of ear massages
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Hey University students, want to learn more about #SpaceWeather 🚀☔? You're still in time to apply for #ESA's Space Weather Training Course in Belgium. Details found here: www.esa.int/Education/ES...
esa.int
Stay ahead of the storm: understand the fundamentals of space weather with ESA
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Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 08/01/2025
I seem to have crossed the 1k mark, so time to re-introduce. I designed the #heliophysics feed, & do a lot of that. I like image processing, open science, and instruments & space. I once chaired the AAS/SPD; now lead NASA's PUNCH mission (T -50d). I like sharing the wonder of cool science. ☀️🔭🧪🛰️⚛️😎
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Dr. Yeimy Rivera @yeimyrivera-solar.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
☀️Just wanted to share a paper that was just published by a student, Syed Ayaz, on kinetic Alfven waves in the corona. Important for understanding how plasmas is heated and accelerated from the Sun: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Alfvén waves in the solar corona: resonance velocity, damping length, and charged particles acceleration by kinetic Alfvén waves - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Alfvén waves in the solar corona: resonance velocity, damping length, and charged particles acceleration by kinetic Alfvén waves
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Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 15/11/2024
PUNCH's FOV is 90°, centered on the Sun. We'll image the interface between the solar corona and the solar wind that fills the heliosphere (and sweeps over Earth!) starting next spring. That's huge. Here it is in the context of the 2017 total solar eclipse. Not a telescope. punch.space.swri.edu 🧪🔭🛰️
The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) has four cameras with overlapping fields of view, forming a giant mosaic 90° across on the sky.
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Matthew J West @solarphysicist.bsky.social · 26/10/2023
Myself, @dbseaton.bsky.social and a few others are preparing for an International Space Science Institute #issi team meeting to discuss Models and Observations of the Middle Corona, see more details here: teams.issibern.ch/middlecorona/ and here: middlecorona.com/issi_meeting...
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