From the 1st of June the Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics (RoCS) is happy to welcome on board Petra Kohutova! She is originally from Slovakia and recently completed her PhD at the Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, University of Warwick, UK.
– My background is in Solar Physics, more specifically in studying waves in the solar corona, Petra says.
Studying the “rain“ on the surface of the Sun
During her postdoctoral research fellowship at RoCS she will focus on improving our understanding of how the matter and energy is transported in the solar atmosphere.
– Solar corona is very hot compared to the rest of the solar atmosphere. It is still not completely clear where the energy required to heat the corona is coming from and how it is dissipated.
– What are you trying to find out?
– I’m focusing on improving our understanding of how the matter and energy is transported in the solar atmosphere. I am particularly interested in coronal rain. It consists of small cool blobs of plasma formed as a result of condensation that fall towards the solar surface, very much like the rain on Earth.
– Why?
– Studying coronal rain can tell us about the mass exchange between different layers of the solar atmosphere and about how and where the coronal loops are heated.
– How do you proceed in your research?
– I combine high resolution solar observations from telescopes and spacecraft such as IRIS, SDO and SST with large scale simulations using state-of-the-art numerical models.
Norway: the place to be
Petra's experience of Oslo has been very positive so far!
– What brought you to Oslo?
– RoCS group research focus and expertise has a great overlap with my research interests, so it seemed like a perfect place to be. Additionally, Norway has been on the top of my list of countries to visit for quite some time now.
– Your expectations?
– Professionally I’m hoping to accomplish everything I’ve set out to do, to be as productive as possible and to collaborate and learn from my colleagues.