Trinity was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from El Segundo High School in a small town right outside LAX airport. She is currently in her third year studying Astronomy and Physics at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo. Away from the city lights of Los Angeles, she enjoys the star filled skies and engages with the community by sharing her knowledge about space as a Planetarium Operator at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. Her academic journey is enriched by the guidance from the amazing professors at UH Hilo, where she actively collaborates on research projects, including her recent participation in the NASA Minds 2024 competition. In her free time, you can catch her either exploring the island or, on a rainy Hilo day, watching Disney movies.
Home Island: Mainland
High School: El Segundo High School
Institution when accepted: University of Hawai’i at Hilo
Project Site: Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope: NSO/DKIST, Pukalani, Maui
Mentor: Sarah Jaeggli
Project Title: Correlation or Causation: Solar Flares and Delta Sunspots with Strong Horizontal Magnetic Field Lines
Abstract:
The Sun contains complex and constantly evolving magnetic fields that are the source of all solar activity, including solar flares that can impact Earth’s technological infrastructure. Delta sunspots, the most complex active regions on the solar surface, exhibit a magnetic configuration characterized by opposite polarities in close-proximity. The project aims to automate the identification and characterization of horizontal magnetic field lines using data mining techniques on continuum images and vector magnetic field maps from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, and the Heliophysics Event Knowledgebase, a database of solar events. These data are used to create time-series observations of active regions, along with plot comparisons, to study the spatial and temporal correlation of solar flares with these magnetic features, in particular quantifying the frequency of occurrence and types of active regions involved, as well as the number of strong flares within these regions. By observing the evolution of these strong horizontal magnetic field patches and the occurrence of solar flares, the question of correlation and causation can be determined. Investigating whether there is correlation or causation between solar flares and strong horizontal field patches will provide insights into the origin of these structures, and improve predictions of solar flares and space weather forecasting.