Dr Adam J. Finley
@adamfinley.bsky.social
ESA Research Fellow at ESTEC in the Netherlands. Investigating the Sun's magnetic activity, solar wind connection science, and the spin-down of Sun-like stars. Previously a postdoc at CEA Paris-Saclay and PhD at Uni of Exeter.
What will the solar corona look like during the 12th August solar eclipse? The LASCO-C2 coronagraph aboard SOHO @science.esa.int gives us a sneak peek! As the Sun rotates roughly every 27 days, we can look at previous solar rotations to anticipate the corona’s structure. (1/5)
Ahead of the total solar eclipse on 12 August, scientists are forecasting the Sun’s corona using advanced 3D simulations. 🧪🔭 Read more about how this helps us forecast space weather 👉 esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_weather/Virtual_totality_ahead_of_the_solar_eclipse @operations.esa.int
If you have been watching today's news coverage of STFC's cuts to astronomy projects, I invite you to step into my time machine and review this 2008 BBC report. Sounds familiar, right?
Prof Jim Wild@jim-wild.bsky.social · 6mo agoGiven recent UKRI and STFC announcements, looking back at this 2008-vintage BBC Newsnight report about the crisis arising from the formation of STFC, it’s hard not to (a) feel a sense of Déjà vu and (b) that lasting lessons were not learned. youtu.be/Ot60dIdI1Ds?...
Short-sighted, stupid cuts to the UKRI budget include shutting down Jodrell Bank, the icon of British astronomy. (Many other cuts too, including 20% to our brand new @vrubinobs.bsky.social). Interesting politically to shut down a major facility in...um..Manchester 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands
Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.
bbc.co.uk
Listen to the... Sun ☀️ 🎧 🎙️ 'Expedition Sound' is here – the first podcast episode takes you on a journey to our familiar star. Meet our Sun, discover the Solar Orbiter mission, and listen to solar fireworks 👉 https://shorturl.at/bGD5H 🔭 🧪
How does the evolution of solar wind sources modulate the effective rotation of the solar corona? Updated visualisation of our work from 2023: www.aanda.org/articles/aa/... At minimum, solar wind emerges from slowly rotating poles. Increased activity drives sources to latitudes with faster rotation.
🔊 What if you could listen to the Universe instead of looking at it? Enter Expedition Sound – our new podcast using sonification to explore what our missions teach us about space, guided by the expertise of scientists and vision impaired astronomers. 🔭 🧪
Evolution of the Sun's magnetic field during solar cycle 25 (so far). Running through a series of SDO/HMI Carrington magnetograms. Left: Plane of sky cut, open versus closed regions showing squashing factor and polarity. Right: Integrated squashing factor weighted towards the plane of sky.
Today, Euclid revealed the largest, most detailed photo ever taken of our galaxy's centre in visible light 🙌 This video takes you on a journey across this region. Turn up the volume and enjoy our galactic centre 🤩 🔭 🧪
Cool Stars 23 in Tokyo. Presenting the nearly continuous monitoring of active region nests at solar maximum, thanks to data from Solar Orbiter on the far side! Can this global view of our nearest star help us to decode the stellar activity observed by ESA's upcoming PLATO mission? @science.esa.int
#SolarOrbiter mission extension gets green light — Launched in 2020, Solar Orbiter has given first views of the Sun’s poles. The extension allows the mission to continue going to higher latitudes, revealing the Sun from new angles, and enabling completely new discoveries. www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
ESA science missions get green light for new discoveries
On 10–11 June, representatives from European Space Agency (ESA) Member States met in Tenerife to make far-reaching decisions about the future of ESA’s Science Programme. Their decisions to extend curr...
esa.int
Attending Space Climate 10 this week in Mariehamn, Finland! 🇫🇮 I spoke about the challenges in long-term planning of Solar Orbiter observations @science.esa.int and how the nesting of magnetic activity provides clues for where to target next. ☀️🕵️♂️
Looking forward to visiting the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy @api.uva.nl tomorrow to give the colloquim "Using the Sun to Decode the Secrets of Other Stars in the Upcoming PLATO Era". How can ESA's Solar Orbiter mission help us interpret stellar magnetism with PLATO? @science.esa.int
New paper day! Louis-Simon Guité et al. investigated if sungrazer comets could trigger analogous behaviour to star-planet interactions. Using an MHD wind model, they searched for activity on the Sun's surface connected by magnetic field lines along the comet's path: arxiv.org/abs/2605.18280
#WatchLive: follow the launch of #Smile on Vega-C #VV29 🚀 Tune into ESA Web TV on 19 May from 05:30 CEST 🔗 watch.esa.int Key milestones expected: 🚀 05:52 Vega-C liftoff 👋 06:48 Separation of Smile 📈 06:49 Acquisition of Smile’s first signal from space 🛰️ 06:55 Deployment of solar arrays
Getting ready for @egu.eu 2026! I will highlight current research from ESA's Solar Orbiter @science.esa.int. ☀️ Session ST1.4 "Exploring the Solar Corona in unprecedented detail" at 10.05am on Tuesday 4th. The connection science campaigns aim to understand the origin of the solar wind. Let's discuss!
A great review of the proposed mechanisms for switchback formation in the solar wind. These strong deflections in the local magnetic field are ubiquitous close to the Sun and have been linked to the heating and acceleration of the solar wind. arxiv.org/pdf/2604.16166
New paper day! Andy To et al. studied the elemental fractionation in coronal loops with FIPpy, comparing the First Ionisation Potential (FIP) effect produced in an initial VAL-C chromosphere versus a heated chromosphere following impulsive nanoflare-like events: arxiv.org/abs/2604.13174
It's paper time ! 🎉 The article got accepted yesterday and is now available on arXiv, thread presenting the main results below ! ✨ arxiv.org/abs/2603.01979 ☄️ #stellarastro
Core-envelope coupling of gravito-inertial waves in pre-main-sequence solar-type stars
After the recent detection of solar equatorial Rossby waves, a renewed interest has been brought to the study of gravito-inertial waves propagating in the convective envelope of solar-type stars. In p...
arxiv.org
Image from ESA's Solar Orbiter (EUI/FSI) of an S-shaped coronal hole, stretching from bottom left to top right. We are attempting to capture the sources of the fast solar wind detected insitu at the spacecraft with high resolution imagery and spectroscopy. Supported by Hinode and IRIS. ☀️🔍💨
Visiting @sy-brt.bsky.social et al. at the Catania observatory where we discussed the activity of Sun-like stars and the links between ESA's Solar Orbiter and PLATO missions. After a few stormy days, I finally made it to the observatory for sunny views of Etna 🏔️ and a look at the solar telescope ☀️
Ever wondered what powers a solar flare? 💥 Solar Orbiter is finally giving us answers to this long-standing mystery. The mission caught a 'magnetic avalanche' on the surface of the Sun just before a flare was released. 🔭🧪1/3
Are you (or do you know of) an undergrad with an interest in solar physics? Check out the Leiden/ESA Astrophysics Program for Summer Students (LEAPS 2026). Myself, Andy To and Henrik Eklund invite you to come work with us at ESTEC on "Catching the Solar Wind in Action". leaps.strw.leidenuniv.nl#none
LEAPS
LEAPS is an opportunity for students with an interest in astronomy and astrophysics to perform a 10 week summer research project in collaboration with a research scientist from Leiden Observatory or ESA/ESTEC. The program is open to all students not currently engaged in a Ph.D. program (please see the full eligibility criteria) We would like to use LEAPS as an opportunity to increase the diversity of researchers in Astronomy as we understand that successful science is supported by this. Students are selected for the program based on their academic achievements and research potential. Each applicant has the opportunity to choose up to two projects of interest, and they are selected by project advisors based on what they indicate their scientific interests and experience to be. Research at Leiden Observatory and ESA/ESTEC takes place on a diverse array of topics (see below for LEAPS 2026 projects), and student projects will likely consist of anything from the analysis of data from world-class telescopes, to large computer simulations, to hands-on work in the astrochemistry laboratories.
leaps.strw.leidenuniv.nl
New paper day! 🔥 George Cherry et al. use the Most Significant Frequency decomposition to investigate shocks, jets, and swirls in the Sun's atmosphere. We find the contribution of 3.5 and 5 mHz signals to be up to 50% of the overall wave power. Published in A&A: www.aanda.org/articles/aa/...
Blue Origin: Engineer becomes first wheelchair user to go to space
Blue Origin: Engineer becomes first wheelchair user to go to space
"It was the coolest experience!" said Michaela Benthaus after the 10-minute Blue Origin flight.
bbc.com
🔭 Until now, observing the inner regions of the Sun’s enigmatic atmosphere – the corona – was close to impossible. 🛰️🛰️☀️ The satellite duo making up @esa.int’s Proba-3 mission fills this observation gap by creating artificial solar eclipses in orbit 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
2025 was a landmark year for Europe in space 🚀 From celebrating 50 years of ESA to new missions and scientific breakthroughs, the year reaffirmed Europe’s leadership in science, exploration, climate action and innovation. 🎥 Watch our highlights video: youtu.be/obJbRWZ8f1Y?...
ESA highlights 2025
YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA
youtu.be
📣 New outreach poster: ESA’s Vigil Mission ☀️💨🛰️💨🌍 The Space-weather “reporter” will monitor the Sun from the Lagrange point 5, reporting 24/7 solar activity days before it reaches Earth. www.esa.int/var/esa/stor...
