First-Year Makes Discovery

While most students worry about just understanding the material in astronomy courses, Yi Wang '95 is busy adding to it.

The first-year student has made a discovery that sheds new light on the occurrence of sunspots. His article on the topic will appear in the April issue of The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.

Wang's research began in 1987 when, he says, sunspot activity was on the rise. "I was reading a report published by the Beijing Observatory while waiting for a haircut and noticed a very interesting pattern of sunspot areas in it," Wang said.

After that, Wang says, he examined the sunspot areas in the northern and southern hemispheres and found that there are persistent differences between the two.

Wang's report tells of this asymmetry between the two sunspot areas and predicts its future patterns.

Although astronomers are aware that the groups of sunspots are not identical, Wang says, current theory does not include asymmetry between the two hemispheres.

An astrophysics and physics concentrator, Wang is a native of Beijing, China. For the past two years, he has studied at Lester B. Pearson College in British Columbia.

He has not seen his parents and sister since leaving Beijing four years ago. "It's hard on both sides," Wang says.

"I don't know how I became interested in astronomy, "Wang says. "I don't know when, I just know I did."

Wang began to make a systematic study of astronomy during the appearance of Halley's Comet in the fall of 1985. He wrote a report detailing a year-and-a-half-long series of observations on the comet which was published a year later.

Wang next produced a study of the 1987 angular solar eclipse. This study revealed the presence of a shadow on the moon's side which Wang correctly identified as an Orientale Basin, an indentation created by a meteor.

Wang is currently doing independent research on solar surface flow fields with Professor of Astronomy Robert W. Noyes.

"He's certainly very eager and very quick," said Noyes, who also teaches Wang in a graduate seminar. "The recent article he submitted has stimulated my own work in the area."