RUI: Coronal Heating Studies at the 1994 Eclipse

PI建议通过观测1994年11月3日日全食的日冕振荡谱来研究日冕的加热，从持续时间、天空清晰度和天气预报来看，这是一次有利的日食。这些观测为通过阿尔芬波解释日冕加热的机制提供了测试。加热发生在太阳风的形成区域。我们之前在1980年和1983年日全食时所做的观测表明，在0.5至2赫兹之间的傅里叶变换中有多余的能量。这次探险队因观测1991年7月1日的日全食而黯然失色。拟议的新实验以各种方式改进了以前的观测，包括改进了数字化和数据记录，改进了短暂的全食期间的图像采集，并通过大大改进的跟踪大大扩大了观测的频率范围。对日食日冕的研究一直是威廉姆斯学院天文学系在吸引和培训学生方面取得成功的主要部分。本科生一直与我们之前的日食探险和相关的数据还原和分析密切相关，这项建议将使PI能够继续积极参与学生的参与。

The PI proposes to study the heating of the solar corona by observing the coronal oscillation spectrum at the total solar eclipse of 3 November 1994, a favorable solar eclipse in terms of duration, sky clarity, and weather forecasts. The observations provide tests of a mechanism to explain the heating of the solar corona via Alfven waves. The heating takes place in the region of formation of the solar wind. Prior observations we made at the total solar eclipses of 1980 and 1983 indicate excess power in the Fourier transforms between 0.5 and 2 Hz. The expedition was clouded out of the observing the 1 July 1991 total solar eclipse. The proposed new experiment improves on the prior observations in a variety of ways, including improved digitization and data recording, improved image acquisition during the brief period of totality, and a major expansion of the frequency range under observation through greatly improved tracking. Studies of the solar corona at eclipses have been a major part of the success of the Astronomy Department at Williams College in attracting and training students. Undergraduate students have been intimately connected with our prior eclipse expeditions and the associated data reduction and analysis, and this proposal will enable the PI to continue the active involvement of students.