1. CNN - NASA releases new, detailed images of the sun - May 28, 1998
Illustration of the TRACE spacecraft approaching the sun (CNN) -- NASA released the first images of the sun from a spacecraft called TRACE, short for Transition Region and Coronal Explorer, on Friday. Trace can get more detailed images of the sun than any other probe, and it can take a picture every few seconds. The images include the first detailed observations of a magnetic energy release called a "magnetic reconnection." Magnetic reconnection occurs when magnetic fields "snap" to a new, lower energy configuration, much like when a twisted rubber band unwinds or breaks. A magnetic reconnection can release vast amounts of energy, and is responsible for explosive events on the sun, such as flares, that can cause communication and power system disruptions on Earth.

2. The Center for Magnetic Reconnection Studies (CMRS)
CMRS Home - The Magnetic Reconnection Research Center for Magnetic Reconnection Studies (CMRS) was established in August 2001 under the auspices of the SciDAC (Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing) initiative of the Department of Energy. The CMRS is a multi-institutional consortium involving three academic institutions: the University of Chicago, the University of Iowa, and the University of Texas at Austin. It is located at and administered from the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa. The Principal Investigators are Professor Amitava Bhattacharjee (University of Iowa), Professor Robert Rosner (University of Chicago), and Professor Richard Fitzpatrick (University of Texas at Austin). Understanding magnetic reconnection is one of the principal challenges in plasma physics. Reconnection is a process by which magnetic fields reconfigure themselves, releasing energy that can be converted to particle energies and bulk flows. Reconnection plays an essential role in several phenomena in magnetic confinement devices, such as sawtooth-like oscillations seen in the core electron temperature or magnetic islands induced by field-errors. It is also widely believed to play a crucial role in space and astrophysical phenomena such as magnetospheric substorms, solar flares, magnetic flux transport in accretion disks, and the self-amplification of cosmic magnetic fields. Thanks to the availability of sophisticated diagnostics in fusion and laboratory experiments, in situ probing of magnetospheric and solar wind plasmas, and X-ray emission measurements from solar and stellar plasmas, theoretical models of magnetic reconnection can now be constrained by stringent observational tests.

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