This document introduces the Sunspotter citizen science project, which aims to forecast solar flares by analyzing data from space telescopes. Space telescopes allow observation of the sun without atmospheric interference and in different wavelengths, including ultraviolet light. Solar flares occur when strong magnetic fields on the sun's surface become stressed and explode, potentially threatening Earth. The FLARECAST project involves researchers from multiple countries developing automatic solar flare forecasting. Citizen scientists can contribute by helping classify magnetograms, which are images of the sun's magnetic fields created from telescope data, to help scientists better understand when solar flares may occur.

1. Observing the Sun and
Forecasting Solar Flares
Workshop introducing the Sunspotter citizen science project as part of
the FLARECAST public engagement programme
FLARECASThasreceivedfundingfromtheEuropeanUnion'sHorizon2020researchandinnovationprogrammeundergrantagreement640216

2. We can look at the sun with
naked eyes only for a very
short moment during sunsets.

3. During daytime, we need to
protect our eyes with eclipse
glasses.

4. However, when there is no
eclipse there is not much to
see.

5. In order to see some
interesting details we need
telescopes.

6. We can observe sunspots with
a simple telescope.

7. If we want to see more
details, we can visit an
observatory with better
telescopes.

8. There are scratches and spots.

9. But sometimes we don‘t see
anything at all.

10. We need to go above the
clouds, mounting telescopes
on a satellite.
On this satellite, we have four
different telescopes.

11. From space, we can observe
the sun without being
disturbed by the weather on
our planet.

12. Zooming in allows us to see
the sunspot in great detail.
What is this spot?
What is going on here?

13. Another advantage of a space
telescope:
We can observe light from the
sun that cannot get through
the atmosphere of the Earth.
This is the sun in ultraviolet
light bubbling with hot gas.
Huge explosions may occur
near sunspot areas – solar
flares.
They may blast off millions of
tons of matter into space.

14. See an example of an explosion:
a solar flare ejects a large cloud of particles.

15. See what we already know about solar flares.

16. Solar flares may hit the Earth
We need to know in advance, when they will happen.

17. We do research
working with people from several countries
studying how we can forecast solar flares automatically.
We named the project FLARECAST.

18. What we know is
that extremely strong magnetic fields
constantly stir the solar surface up.

19. We also know that
solar flares occur when these magnetic fields
become too stressed.

20. Using a computer programme
we create images of the
magnetic field from images
made by one of the
telescopes on board the
satellite we saw before.
Here, we see two very strong
magnetic fields just near the
sunspot.
When they get squeezed and
mingled together, they
release their energy in a huge
explosion. This can trigger a
solar storm as seen in the
movie.

21. When the magnetogram looks
like this, we know that there
won‘t be any solar flares in
the next few days.

22. Today‘s magnetogram:
Would you expect any solar
flares in the next few days?

23. Space telescopes produce a
huge amount of images
Scientists cannot classify them alone.
We need your help!

24. Contribute to science by helping
scientists classify a set of 60 000
magnetograms.
Get started after the following
mini-training.