Swiss Virtual Institute for Solar Science
Heliosphere
Solar Wind and Heliospheric Physics
The University of Bern has been a major player in numerous space missions to explore the physical conditions in situ in the solar wind and heliosphere (e.g. ISEE-3, Ulysses, WIND, SOHO, ACE) and interstellar gas (e.g. LDEF and COLLISA). The research work has focused on explorations of the composition of the solar wind and of solar and interplanetary energetic particles. The measured particle abundances are directly related to the processes that heat the solar corona and to the mechanisms of particle acceleration on the Sun. This research program has evolved largely from the deployment of the Bern solar wind foil experiments on the Moon in the framework of NASA's Apollo program.
The SOHO instrument CELIAS (Charge, ELement, and Isotope Analysis System) observed a halo coronal mass ejection on 6 April 2000.
The Cosmic Ray Group at the University of Bern uses neutron monitors at Jungfraujoch and a solar neutron telescope (SONTEL) at Gornergrat to study high-energy neutrons produced in extremely energetic eruptions on the Sun. The research further deals with proton, gamma-ray and neutron emissions from solar flares, cosmic ray propagation in the inner heliosphere, and space weather.
The relativistic solar particle event of April 15, 2001, recorded with SONTEL at Gornergrat, the IGY neutron monitor at Jungfraujoch.