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Photo courtesy ot Jim Kemp
The University's Pine Mountain Observatory is the home of University astronomer Jim Kemp for his
studies to predict the occurence of sunspots and other solar activity
University astronomer studies
method to predict solar actvity
By Sandy Johnstone
Of the Emerald
Jim Kemp is shedding some
light on the sun — specifically
on sunspots, the solar outbursts
caused by magnetic storms on
the sun
Kemp, a University astromony
professor, spends part of his
time working near Bend at the
University's Pine Mountain Ob
servatory, where he exper
iments with a new method which
measures the sun's submerged
magnetic fields using infrared
polarized light
"Giant bubbles arise from in
side the sun and carry the mag
netic field to the surface," he
explains "My goal is to detect
buried magnetic fields before
they come to the surface Then
we ll be able to predict the onset
of solar activity.”
Kemp's polarimetry method
can obtain "extremely sensitive
measurements,” he says Using
precise measurements of sub
merged magnetic fields, scien
tists can predict solar activity
such as sunspots.
Polarimetry allows Kemp to
probe about 500 miles below the
sun's surface Previous meth
ods allowed scientists to ex
plore only about 10 miles down.
When he first tried the method in
1981, Kemp achieved "an im
mediate success and got the
most sensitive measure of sun
spots so far
It is important for the world
wide community to know about
the onset of solar activity and
events," he says. Operations
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such as space launches, which
depend on perfect com
municaton, could benefit from
this type of knowledge
because the energy sunspots
send to the earth influences
radio communication and the
weather
Kemp is working with Joseph
Macek, an atomic phsycist from
the University of Nebraska, on a
theory which explains the mag
netic polarization of sunsnots
by looking at the complicated
motions of spinning electrons
and atoms combined with unu
sual conditions in sunspots
Beginnings of his theory
emerged with some laboratory
research in 1975, but Kemp only
began to concentrate on
developing his theory about two
years ago
"The problem before was
nobody did good enough ob
servations to test any theory,1'
he says And besides, no one
else thought of this 11
Kemp has a grant for $39,000
from the National Science
Foundation, which probably will
be renewed, he says He plans
to continue his sunspot re
search through the 11-year
sunspot cycle
Kemp also is relating his dis
coveries about sunspots to
other stars
For example, he is trying to
pin down what causes the
brightness changes observed in
flare stars, which are like the
sun but have brightness
changes at irregular intervals
"If the sun did that it would
wipe us out," he says
Kemp speculates that the sun
may evolve into a flare star "in a
billion — but maybe a hundred
million years from now."
Federal crime, draft legislation
scheduled for ACLU discussion
Frank Wilkinson, founder of
the National Coalition Against
Repressive Legislation, will be
on campus for two speeches
today, sponsored by the Amer
ican Civil Liberties Union.
The first speech, dealing with
the prosecution of draft resis
ters, the Solomon Act and other
draft-related topics starts at
2:30 p.m. in the EMU Forum
Room
The Solomon Act would
require all eligible male college
students to register for the draft
before they can receive federal
financial aid.
Wilkinson’s second speech,
focusing on an anti-crime bill
and the threat it poses to civil
liberties, will begin at 7:30 p.m.
in Room 125 of the law school.
The bill, which would allow
suspects to be held without bail,
was sponsored by Sen. Strom
Thurmond of North Carolina,
chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
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