As reported on the SWPC website (swpc.noaa.gov) Solar Cycle 25 has begun. Quoting: "The solar minimum between Solar Cycle 24 and 25 - the period when the sun is least active - happened in December 2019, when the 13-month smoothed sunspot number fell to 1.8, according to the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, co-chaired by NOAA and NASA. We are now in Solar Cycle 25 with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025." The press release by the National Weather Service with more details is available at https://www.weather.gov/news/201509-solar-cycle

Photo: Solar image obtained with Solar Ultraviolet Imager aboard GOES-East on Dec. 15, 2019. This is the sun at its least active. Credit: NOAA

Following the completion of the move of the VT SuperDARN group to new on-campus quarters, the group website is now undergoing a thorough updating, a process that may take several months. Temporary interruptions in some services are possible. If you have a time-critical need for a product that is unavailable, please contact a group member listed under 'Contact/Visit Us'.

New banner design credit: B. Kunduri

SuperDARN PI Dr. Jiaojiao Zhang has passed on the news that two radars are under construction at a site in Inner Mongolia. The build is part of the Meridian Project phase II and follows the inauguration of the first SuperDARN radar in China at a site near Jiamusi (http://vt.superdarn.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=354). This will be a twin radar site. The photo shows the construction of one of the antenna arrays. A total of six radars are planned to be built as a chain across northern China. Jiaojiao has been assisted in this work from the beginning by her colleague Dr. Ailan Lan.

Congratulations to Dr. Zhang and her team at the National Space Science Center (CAS)!

Photo credit: Boyu Huang

The 2021 Heliophysics Summer School will be held June 15 - 22, 2021 in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. The school is seeking approximately 35 graduate students, from masters through postdoctoral fellows. Participants will learn about the exciting science of heliophysics as a broad, coherent discipline that reaches in space from the Earth’s troposphere to the depths of the Sun, and in time from the formation of the solar system to the distant future. For more details see 'Read More'. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2021 Heliophysics Summer School may be held in a virtual format.

Website: https://cpaess.ucar.edu/heliophysics/summer-school/recruitment-announcement

Deadline for Applications: January 22, 2021

Over the course of August and September of 2020 the SuperDARN radar group, with its offices and lab, re-located from a building in the Corporate Research Center on the outskirts of Blacksburg to a location near the heart of campus. This was part of the move of the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research (Space@VT) which counts groups in the ECE and AOE departments. Owing to covid-19 circumstances actual activities in the new areas remain limited with most people accessible by email and Zoom. The new quarters for the SuperDARN group are located on the 3rd floor of Durham Hall. Details of our new mailing address are given in 'Read More'. We look forward to welcoming visitors in our new quarters!

NASA will be at this year's SciFest from Sept. 16-23. This is a FREE virtual career fair for students, recent graduates, and early career folks.

Registration: https://usasciencefestival.org/ccc/. This effort is in collaboration with NASA's recruitment team and NASA Internships is helping support this event by spreading awareness via social media. NASA representatives will be sharing how students and recent graduates can get involved with the agency.