Douglas Rabin, Principal Investigator. Astrophysicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Education. A.B., Astronomy, Harvard College, 1973. Ph.D., Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1980.
Experience. Rabin’s main research interest is the structure of the solar atmosphere—in particular, the nature of the transition from highly intermittent magnetic flux concentrations in the photosphere to space-filling magnetic field in the chromosphere and corona. To investigate this transition observationally, he has designed and led the implementation of several high-precision solar magnetographs and imaging spectrographs. He has investigated, observationally and theoretically, the structure and temporal variability of the transition region and low corona.
Recently, Rabin has led an R&D effort to develop lightweight but highly accurate mirrors for diffraction-limited imaging in the ultraviolet.
Rabin has been a guest investigator on the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) instrument on SOHO. Currently, he is Principal Investigator of EUNIS and Co-Investigator of the Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation (SUMI) and the Planet Imaging Concept Using a Rocket Experiment (PICTURE). He is Deputy Project Scientist for the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE), launched in 2004.
Rabin is the Head of the Solar Physics Branch at Goddard Space Flight Center. He serves on the NASA Earth-Sun System Subcommittee, the Living With a Star Targeted Research and Technology Steering Group, and the Sounding Rocket Working Group. He has served on the Executive Committee of the American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union and organized IAU Symposium 154.
Selected Publications
Moore, R. L, Falconer, D., Porter, J. G., Hathaway, D., Yamauchi, Y., and Rabin, D. M. 2005, “Coronal Heating, Spicules, and Solar-B,” Astron. Soc. Pacific Conf. Ser., in press.
Antonille, S. Content, D., Rabin, D. M., Wallace, T., and Stevens, C. 2004, “High Precision Metrology on the Ultra-lightweight 51-cm f/1.25 Parabolic SHARPI Primary Mirror Using a CGH Null Lens,” Proc. Soc. Phot. Instr. Eng., 5494, 132.
Aschwanden, M. J., Poland, A. I., and Rabin, D. M. 2001, “The New Solar Corona,” Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 39, 175.
Rabin, D. M. 2000, “Fibrils,” in Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Institute of Physics Publishing (online at www.ency-astro.com).
Rabin, D. M. 1997, “The Solar Magnetic Field in Three Dimensions,” Solar Phys., 174, 281.
Ayres, T. R. and Rabin, D. M. 1996, “Observations of Solar Carbon Monoxide with an Infrared Imager. I. Thermal Bifurcation Revisited,” Astrophys. J., 460, 1042.
Gary, G. A. and Rabin, D. M. 1995, “Line-of-Sight Magnetic Flux Imbalances Caused by Electric Current,” Solar Phys., 157, 185.
Rabin, D. M. and Dowdy, J. F., Jr. 1992, “Pervasive Variability in the Quiet Solar Transition Region,” Astrophys. J., 398, 665.
Rabin, D. M. 1992, “A True-Field Magnetogram in a Solar Plage Region,” Astrophys. J. (Letters), 390, L103.
Rabin, D. M. 1992, “Energy Balance in Coronal Funnels,” Astrophys. J., 383, 407.
D. M. Rabin, Co-Investigator
A. Current Awards
1. Principal Investigator, “Extreme Ultraviolet Normal Incidence Spectrograph (EUNIS).” NASA Solar and Heliospheric Physics (SHP) Low Cost Access to Space (LCAS) Program (contact: W. Wagner, William.Wagner@nasa.gov). Period of Performance: 1 October 2002 – 30 September 2005. Total budget: $2,408,000. Commitment: 0.3 FTE.
2. Principal Investigator, “Metrology of an Ultraprecise Lightweight Mirror.” NASA/GSFC Internal Research and Development Program (contact: J. Roman, Juan.Roman@nasa.gov). Period of Performance: 1 October 2004 – 30 September 2005. Total budget: $309,800. Commitment: 0.1 FTE.
B. Pending Awards
1. This proposal. Commitment: 0.1 FTE.
2. Principal Investigator, “Extreme Ultraviolet Normal Incidence Spectrograph (EUNIS) - An Investigation to Understand the Energetics of the Solar Corona.” NASA Solar and Heliospheric Physics (SHP) Low Cost Access to Space (LCAS) Program (contact: W. Wagner, William.Wagner@nasa.gov). Period of Performance: 1 October 2005 – 30 September 2008. Total budget: $2,123,900. Commitment: 0.3 FTE.