Collaborative Research: Citizen CATE Next-Generation 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Experiment, Phase 2

这是西南研究院和美国国家科学基金会两个联邦资助的研究和发展中心--国家太阳天文台和国家大气研究中心--之间的合作项目。2017年8月，美国大日食横扫美国大陆，从俄勒冈州到南卡罗来纳州。公民大陆-美国望远镜日食(Citizen Cate)成功地在68个地点部署了300多名志愿公民科学家，从东海岸到西海岸持续观测全食。这一努力产生了一个新颖而独特的数据集，其中包含90分钟内日冕的连续覆盖。2024年4月8日，一场日全食将再次横跨美国，这一次是从德克萨斯州到缅因州。这里概述的项目是在CATE 2017成功的基础上，通过升级仪器来改进观测，以更好地观测太阳大气的中间层(中日冕)。CATE 2024项目将沿着全食路径部署40个公民科学家团队，收集超过60分钟的高分辨率数据，这些数据将用于研究难以观测到的中日冕中的几个突出问题。已经开展了先前的规划工作，包括选址、确定必要的设备和初步发展公民科学网络。这项奖励是为了开展计划中的活动，包括设备采购和望远镜建造、团队的协调和培训、日食期间的数据收集和数据的初步汇编。更广泛的影响包括在日食路径上与美洲原住民和其他代表性不足的社区团体接触，向社区团体捐赠望远镜用于其他天文观测，以及聘请一名早期职业女性科学家担任项目经理。CATE 2024将使用日冕的高频率高动态范围(HDR)偏振观测来表征在日冕以外无法研究的尺度上塑造日冕的加热、结构和演化的物理过程。CATE 2024的科学目标是：(1)确定横跨日冕中段的结构的连通性，日冕磁场从主要封闭转变为主要开放；(2)通过描述日食期间发生的小尺度动力学，测量新生的太阳风的流动；以及(3)通过识别与此过程相关的特征和动力学，识别和表征被认为在太阳风中产生结构并加热中低日冕的磁重联。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This is a collaborative project between the SouthWest Research Institute, and two of NSF’s Federally Funded Research and Development Centers – the National Solar Observatory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In August of 2017, the Great American Eclipse traversed the continental United States from Oregon to South Carolina. The Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (Citizen CATE) successfully deployed over 300 volunteer citizen scientists at 68 sites to continuously observe totality from coast to coast. That effort resulted in a novel and unique dataset containing 90 minutes of continuous coverage of the inner solar corona. On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse (TSE) will again traverse United States, this time from Texas to Maine. The project outlined here is to build on the successes of CATE 2017 and improve the observations with upgraded instrumentation to better observe the middle layer of the solar atmosphere (the middle corona). CATE 2024 project will deploy 40 teams of citizen scientists along the path of totality to collect over 60 minutes of high-resolution data which will be used to study several outstanding problems in the hard to observe middle corona. A previous planning work including site selection, identification of necessary equipment, and initial development of the citizen science network as already been carried out. This award is to carry out the planned activities, which includes equipment purchase and telescope building, coordination and training for the teams, data collection during the eclipse and preliminary compilation of the data. The broader impacts include engagement with Native American and other underrepresented community groups along the eclipse path, the donation of telescopes to the community groups for use in other astronomical observations, and the inclusion of an early career female scientist as the project manager. CATE 2024 will use high-cadence high dynamic range (HDR) polarimetric observations of the corona to characterize the physical processes that shape the heating, structure, and evolution of the solar corona at scales that cannot be studied outside of a TSE. The science objectives of CATE 2024 are to (1) determine the connectivity of structures that span the middle corona, where the coronal magnetic field transitions from primarily closed to primarily open; (2) measure the flow of the nascent solar wind, by characterizing small scale dynamics that occur during the eclipse; and (3) identify and characterize magnetic reconnection, which is believed to generate structure in the solar wind and to heat the low and middle corona, by identifying features and dynamics related to this process.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.