
James Paul MasonJohns Hopkins University | JHU · Applied Physics Laboratory
James Paul Mason
PhD & M.S. Aerospace Engineering Sciences, B.S. Astrophysics
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106
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
November 2021 - present
October 2019 - October 2021
September 2017 - September 2019
Position
- PostDoc Position
Publications
Publications (106)
Flare occurrence is statistically associated with changes in several characteristics of the line-of-sight magnetic field in solar active regions (ARs). We calculated magnetic measures throughout the disk passage of 1075 ARs spanning solar cycle 23 to find a statistical relationship between the solar magnetic field and flares. This expansive study o...
Coronal dimming has the potential to be a useful forecaster of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As emitting material leaves the corona, a temporary void is left behind which can be observed in spectral images and irradiance measurements. The velocity and mass of the CMEs should impact the character of those observations. However, other physical proce...
The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) is a 3-Unit (3U) CubeSat developed at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU). Over 40 students contributed to the project with professional mentorship and technical contributions from professors in the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Departme...
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coronal dimmings are often observed in response to solar eruptive events. These phenomena can be generated via several different physical processes. For space weather, the most important of these is the temporary void left behind by a coronal mass ejection (CME). Massive, fast CMEs tend to leave behind a darker void that a...
The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) is a 3 Unit (3U) CubeSat designed for a 3-month mission to study solar soft X-ray spectral irradiance. The first of the two flight models was deployed from the International Space Station in 2016 May and operated for one year before its natural deorbiting. This was the first flight of the Blue Canyon...
To understand its evolution and the effects of its eruptive events, the Sun is permanently monitored by multiple satellite missions. The optically thin emission of the solar plasma and the limited number of viewpoints make it challenging to reconstruct the geometry and structure of the solar atmosphere; however, this information is the missing link...
Three generations of the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) have flown on small satellites with the goal “to explore the energy distribution of soft X-ray (SXR) emissions from the quiescent Sun, active regions, and during solar flares, and to model the impact on Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere.” The primary science instrument is the Am...
The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric altitudes from 1.5–6 R⊙, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. Eruptions that could disrupt the near-Earth environment propagate through it. Importantly, it also modulates inflow from a...
In the next decade, there is an opportunity for very high return on investment of relatively small budgets by elevating the priority of smallsat funding in heliophysics. We've learned in the past decade that these missions perform exceptionally well by traditional metrics, e.g., papers/year/\$M (Spence et al. 2022). It is also well established that...
The “middle corona,” defined by West et al. (2022) as the region between ∼1.5–6 R⊙, is a critical transition region that connects the highly structured lower corona to the outer corona where the magnetic field becomes predominantly radial. At radio wavelengths, remote-sensing of the middle corona falls in the meter–decameter wavelength range where...
Heliophysics image data largely relies on a forty-year-old ecosystem built on the venerable Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) data standard. While many in situ measurements use newer standards, they are difficult to integrate with multiple data streams required to develop global understanding. Additionally, most data users still engage with da...
Our current theoretical and observational understanding suggests that critical properties of the solar wind and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are imparted within 10 Rs, particularly below 4 Rs. This seemingly narrow spatial region encompasses the transition of coronal plasma processes through the entire range of physical regimes from fluid to kinet...
The coronal magnetic field is the prime driver behind many as-yet unsolved mysteries: solar eruptions, coronal heating, and the solar wind, to name a few. It is, however, still poorly observed and understood. We highlight key questions related to magnetic energy storage, release, and transport in the solar corona, and their relationship to these im...
Our current theoretical and observational understanding suggests that critical properties of the solar wind and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are imparted within 10 Rs, particularly below 4 Rs. This seemingly narrow spatial region encompasses the transition of coronal plasma processes through the entire range of physical regimes from fluid to kinet...
Three generations of the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) have flown on small satellites with the goal "to explore the energy distribution of soft X-ray (SXR) emissions from the quiescent Sun, active regions, and during solar flares, and to model the impact on Earth's ionosphere and thermosphere". The primary science instrument is the Am...
The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric distances from 1.5 to 6 solar radii, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. The solar wind, eruptions, and flows pass through the region, and they are shaped by it. Importantly, the regi...
In the next decade, there is an opportunity for very high return on investment of relatively small budgets by elevating the priority of smallsat funding in heliophysics. We've learned in the past decade that these missions perform exceptionally well by traditional metrics, e.g., papers/year/\$M (Spence et al. 2022 -- arXiv:2206.02968). It is also w...
Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counterintuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the h...
To understand the solar evolution and effects of solar eruptive events, the Sun is permanently observed by multiple satellite missions. The optically-thin emission of the solar plasma and the limited number of viewpoints make it challenging to reconstruct the geometry and structure of the solar atmosphere; however, this information is the missing l...
The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS-1) CubeSat observed solar X-rays between 0.5 and 10 keV. A two-temperature, two-emission-measure model is fit to each daily averaged spectrum. These daily average temperatures and emission measures are plotted against the corresponding daily solar 10.7 cm radio flux (F10.7) value and a linear correlati...
The "middle corona," defined by West et al. (2022) as the region between ~1.5-6 solar radii, is a critical transition region that connects the highly structured lower corona to the outer corona where the magnetic field becomes predominantly radial. At radio wavelengths, remote-sensing of the middle corona falls in the meter-decameter wavelength ran...
We recommend that NASA maintain and fund science platforms that enable interactive and scalable data analysis in order to maximize the scientific return of data collected from space-based instruments.
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light emitted by the Sun impacts satellite operations and communications and affects the habitability of planets. Currently, EUV-observing instruments are constrained to viewing the Sun from its equator (i.e., ecliptic), limiting our ability to forecast EUV emission for other viewpoints (e.g. solar poles), and to generaliz...
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are a prominent contributor to solar system space weather and might have impacted the Sun’s early angular momentum evolution. A signal diagnostic of CMEs on the Sun is coronal dimming: a drop in coronal emission, tied to the mass of the CME, that is the direct result of removing emitting plasma from the corona. We pres...
The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric altitudes from $1.5$ to $6\,R_\odot$, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. Eruptions that could disrupt the near-Earth environment propagate through it. Importantly, it modulates inflo...
The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS-1) CubeSat observed solar X-rays between 0.5 and 10 keV. A two-temperature, two-emission measure model is fit to each daily averaged spectrum. These daily average temperatures and emission measures are plotted against the corresponding daily solar 10.7 cm radio flux (F10.7) value and a linear correlati...
When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative and innovative use of fast-advancing CubeSat and small satel...
Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are a prominent contributor to solar system space weather and might have impacted the Sun's early angular momentum evolution. A signal diagnostic of CMEs on the Sun is coronal dimming: a drop in coronal emission, tied to the mass of the CME, that is the direct result of removing emitting plasma from the corona. We pres...
When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative and innovative use of fast-advancing CubeSat and small satel...
The Extreme-ultraviolet Stellar Characterization for Atmospheric Physics and Evolution (ESCAPE) mission is an astrophysics Small Explorer employing ultraviolet spectroscopy (EUV: 80 - 825 \AA\ and FUV: 1280 - 1650 \AA) to explore the high-energy radiation environment in the habitable zones around nearby stars. ESCAPE provides the first comprehensiv...
Within an imaging instrument’s field of view, there may be many observational targets of interest. Similarly, within a spectrograph’s bandpass, there may be many emission lines of interest. The brightness of these targets and lines can be orders of magnitude different, which poses a challenge to instrument and mission design. A single exposure can...
Within an imaging instrument's field of view, there may be many observational targets of interest. Similarly, within a spectrograph's bandpass, there may be many emission lines of interest. The brightness of these targets and lines can be orders of magnitude different, which poses a challenge to instrument and mission design. A single exposure can...
Pandora is a SmallSat mission designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, and was selected as part of NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers Program. Transmission spectroscopy of transiting exoplanets provides our best opportunity to identify the makeup of planetary atmospheres in the coming decade. Stellar brightness variations due to star spots, howev...
The Sun Coronal Ejection Tracker (SunCET) is an extreme ultraviolet imager and spectrograph instrument concept for tracking coronal mass ejections through the region where they experience the majority of their acceleration: the difficult-to-observe middle corona. It contains a wide field of view (0-4~\Rs) imager and a 1~\AA\ spectral-resolution-irr...
The Sun Coronal Ejection Tracker (SunCET) is an extreme ultraviolet imager and spectrograph instrument concept for tracking coronal mass ejections through the region where they experience the majority of their acceration: the difficult-to-observe middle corona. It contains a wide field of view (0--4~\Rs) imager and a 1~\AA\ spectral-resolution-irra...
The Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) was flown on 2018 June18 on the NASA 36.336 sounding rocket flight and obtained the highest resolution to date for solar soft X-ray (SXR) spectra over a broad energy range. This observation was during a time with quiescent (non-flaring) small active regions on the solar disk and when the 10.7...
By 2050, we expect that CME models will accurately describe, and ideally predict, observed solar eruptions and the propagation of the CMEs through the corona. We describe some of the present known unknowns in observations and models that would need to be addressed in order to reach this goal. We also describe how we might prepare for some of the un...
Solar analogs, broadly defined as stars similar to the Sun in mass or spectral type, provide a useful laboratory for exploring the range of Sun-like behaviors and exploring the physical mechanisms underlying some of the Sun's most elusive processes like coronal heating and the dynamo. We describe a series of heliophysics-motivated, but astrophysics...
The Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) was flown on 2018 June18 on the NASA 36.336 sounding rocket flight and obtained the highest resolution to date for solar soft X-ray (SXR) spectra over a broad energy range. This observation was during a time with quiescent (non-flaring) small active regions on the solar disk and when the 10.7...
The second Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS-2) CubeSat, which begins its flight in late 2018, builds on the success of MinXSS-1, which flew from 2016-05-16 to 2017-05-06. The science instrument is more advanced – now capable of greater dynamic range with higher energy resolution. More data will be captured on the ground than was possible...
Solar coronal dimmings have been observed extensively in the past two decades and are believed to have close association with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Recent study found that coronal dimming is the only signature that could differentiate powerful ares that have CMEs from those that do not. Therefore, dimming might be one of the best candidate...
The goal of the SunPy project is to facilitate and promote the use and development of community-led, free, and open source data analysis software for solar physics based on the scientific Python environment. The project achieves this goal by developing and maintaining the sunpy core package and supporting an ecosystem of affiliated packages. This p...
When a coronal mass ejection departs, it leaves behind a temporary void. That void is known as coronal dimming, and it contains information about the mass ejection that caused it. Other physical processes can cause parts of the corona to have transient dimmings, but mass ejections are particularly interesting because of their influence in space wea...
Science funding agencies (NASA, DOE, and NSF), the science community, and the US taxpayer have all benefited enormously from the several-decade series of National Academies Decadal Surveys. These Surveys are one of the primary means whereby these agencies may align multi-year strategic priorities and funding to guide the scientific community. They...
Solar coronal dimmings have been observed extensively in the past two decades and are believed to have close association with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Recent study found that coronal dimming is the only signature that could differentiate powerful flares that have CMEs from those that do not. Therefore, dimming might be one of the best candida...
In this paper, we present a curated data set from the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO ) mission in a format suitable for machine-learning research. Beginning from level 1 scientific products we have processed various instrumental corrections, down-sampled to manageable spatial and temporal resolutions, and synchronized observations spatially...