Featured Image Credit: The University of St Andrews. License: CC BY-NC Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License
Solar And Magnetospheric Theory Group
The Solar and Magnetospheric Theory group is based within the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews. Members of our research group are involved in many different areas of theoretical solar and magnetospheric research, as well as data analysis. We are a large group of applied mathematicians who study the Sun and the Earth’s magnetosphere using mathematical modelling techniques. Observational data from satellites and from ground based observatories are often used to constrain our models and improve the validity of our results.
History of Mathematics at St Andrews
DesignationThe History of Mathematics group is based within the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of St Andrews. Participants in the research group have a range of interests. Deborah Kent‘s current research focuses on 19th-century eclipse expeditions, including projects on invisible labor in eclipse expeditions, code-switching practices of 19th-century women astronomers, and the political maneuvering of 19th-century mathematicians in the United States. She is the lead organizer for a 2024 workshop on the Global History of Eclipse Reckoning, hosted by the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh.
About us
This website was created over the course of six weeks during the summer of 2023, funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) as part of a Knowledge Exchange Institutional Award. The objective is to communicate to a public audience the outcomes of some STFC-funded research at St Andrews, whilst building on the research carried out at the University in both coronal science and the history of solar eclipse expeditions. The project allowed the undergraduates involved to develop skills in website design, content development, research, teamwork and leadership. It allowed the supervising PhD students to gain experience in supervision and assistance in research.
The undergraduate team that worked on the website were
Alex McNall
Jack Arnott
Niharika Chavan
Shreyas Jekki Venkateshwarulu
Vicky Chu
Yansong Li
Under supervision from PhD students in the Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group
Anmol Kumar
Jonah Klowss
This project would not have been possible without the support and guidance from Dr Deborah Kent and Dr Tom Elsden, who secured the funding, organised the project and selected the team.
University of St Andrews Astronomical Society
Nikko JuengsophonvitavasThe University of St Andrews Astronomical Society (AstroSoc) is a student-run society that meets on Thursdays at the Napier building to share their love for everything space. Usual events consist of astronomy-related talks, pub quizzes, collaboration with other societies, and, of course, stargazing when weather permits. Everyone is welcome! The Society is fortunate to have access to the 16″ and 10″ telescopes, used regularly for stargazing.
Back in 2019, I was fortunate enough to witness a partial solar eclipse with over 60% in Thailand. I purchased a solar filter that year because two partial eclipses were occurring close together; although the other one was minor, I didn’t even take a picture of it. This was also the year I started getting into astrophotography and subsequently made this Gif out of a sequence of photos I’ve taken of the Sun. Apart from sitting in the Sun in a park, the most memorable part of this was being told off by the locals as it is considered bad luck in Thailand to be in the Sun during an eclipse!