SunbYte IV

Aim

The project started off in November 2019 with nine teams: ADCS, Optics, Structures, Electronics and Power, Finance, Outreach, Thermal and Communications. These were all supervised by Team Leaders and SunbYte managers.

The main tasks were done within our teams, where we held weekly meetings and once a month all of us would meet together for an overall progress update. Each team also received online support from the previous editions’ SunbYters who followed the process and provided useful tips on what worked and what did not in the past.

Summary

However, following the governmental guidance due to the outbreak of COVID-19 all of the works on the project had to be shifted to an online platform, which greatly slowed all of us down. Without being able to use the University’s laboratories to construct parts and test materials it was impossible to finish the project, but we kept on working online in areas where we could. A smaller group of us are still engaging in the project over summer and preparing for the next University year to begin.

As of today, we can proudly say that despite the inconveniences, the design phase is mostly done.

The Optics Team made a decision on what telescope, filters and camera will be used and they are ready to be ordered. A major difference to the past editions of SunbYte is that instead of using only the Ha filter we will be observing the Sun in two different filters- Ha (656.3 nm) and Ca-II K-line (393.4 nm). To switch between them and the raw telescope lens, a filter wheel will be incorporated into the design. This was never done before and although it is a challenge for all teams, we hope to make it work and lay good foundations for the future SunbYters.

In addition, teams Structures and Thermal are making great progress on attaching the motors to the CAD and fitting all of the components on the payload without minimising the movement range of the telescope.

All of the work regarding testing and integrating the parts into the final payload will have to wait until the 2020/21 academic year starts.

Team

Project managers

Team lead: Joseph Middleton
Technical lead: Iakov Bobrov
Business team lead: Sanchari Das

Team leads

Structure: Jakub Jasik
Electrical: Pranav
Optics: Ida Janiak
Software: Palash
Outreach: Espe
Finance: Madhur

Team members

Structures:
Ahmed
Aikaterini Mitsiou
Akhil
Raquel Hernandez
Robbie Lowes
Swaraj

Electrical:
Nishane
Saloni
Thomas Tai

Software:
Shamoil
Maciek
Mabel
James

Outreach: Maddy-May Sterland

Finance: Mabel Ubong

Academic advisors

Professor Viktor Fedun

Professor in Space Science
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Research interests: Solar/space plasmas, Numerical modelling of plasma dynamical systems, Solar-terrestrial system and Linear and nonlinear wave propagation in the solar atmosphere.

Email

v.fedun@sheffield.ac.uk

Open staff member portrait in a modal window

Dr Eamon Scullion

Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University

Dr Sergiy Shelyag

Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University

Dr Dave Jess

Department of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast

Dr Sergei Zharkov

Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Hull

Dr James McLaughlin

Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University

Dr Richard Morton

Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University