High Resolution Observations and Studies of Solar Eruptions Using the 1.6-meter Telescope in Big Bear

新泽西理工学院（NJIT）运营大熊太阳天文台（BBSO）已有20多年的历史。天文台在科学产出和发展最先进仪器方面都保持了很高的生产力。这包括在过去四年中发表的一百多篇同行评审的出版物，以及作为社区设施的古德太阳望远镜（GST）的运行和升级GST仪器，以满足美国和全球用户不断发展的科学需求。GST是世界上分辨率最高的太阳望远镜之一。由于在大熊湖长时间稳定良好的观测，GST采用高阶自适应光学（AO），定期收集衍射有限的空间分辨率（~ 0”）。在430 nm到8.2 μm的光谱范围内，具有高节奏（40 s）的光度、光谱和偏振数据。该合同将为BBSO运营、科学和教育活动提供为期五年的骨干支持。BBSO将继续作为社区设施运营GST。GST数据和大部分GST观测时间对美国的任何太阳物理学家开放。GST数据已经并将在许多博士论文中使用。BBSO将继续支持NSF-REU项目，为本科生提供天文数据分析、高分辨率观测和仪器开发方面的实践经验。研究生的支持将包括天体物理学中代表性不足的群体成员的参与，并包括BBSO的两个暑期学校，以培训研究生/博士后/初级研究人员关于地面太阳物理学的技术。该项目中超过30%的团队成员是女性研究人员。GST将继续在高分辨率太阳物理学中发挥至关重要和不可替代的作用，以促进我们对空间天气起源和太阳大气基本性质的了解。GST是唯一的大口径太阳望远镜，通常会经历持续数小时的良好观测条件。在即将到来的第25太阳活动周期的最大值期间，BBSO将获得，分析和解释丰富的高分辨率太阳数据。利用这一资源，BBSO将开发和应用分析工具来解决空间天气研究中的一些关键前沿问题，特别关注太阳爆发的高分辨率观测和研究，包括(1)基本磁重联，(2)太阳低层大气中的耀斑能量学，(3)耀斑生产活跃区域的三维磁结构，(4)基于数据的建模来理解耀斑触发，(5)小尺度磁通绳和相关喷流。太阳爆发是太空天气的主要来源，通过对通信、交通、电力系统、国防和太空旅行的影响，影响人类的日常生活。此外，BBSO将努力加强与NSF的Daniel K. Inouye太阳望远镜（DKIST）在望远镜操作、仪器开发和科学方面的协调。GST和DKIST在仪器能力和发现空间上是互补的。分布在21个国家的61所大学、天文台和研究所的BBSO社区用户获得了大部分GST观测时间（80%）。BBSO积极支持与NASA太空、火箭和气球任务（如帕克太阳探测器）以及其他大型地面设施协调的战役观测。BBSO现在为NSF的太阳天气光学长期研究（SOLIS）设施提供了一个永久的家，该设施由国家太阳天文台建造。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) has been operating Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) for more than two decades. The observatory has remained highly productive – both in science output and in the development of state-of-the-art instrumentation. This includes more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications over the past four years, as well as operations of the Goode Solar Telescope (GST) as a community facility and upgrading GST instrumentation to meet the evolving scientific requirements of users in the U.S. and worldwide. GST is one of the highest-resolution solar telescopes in the world. Owing to the extended periods of stable excellent seeing at Big Bear Lake, GST with its high-order adaptive optics (AO), routinely collects diffraction-limited spatial resolution (~ 0".1, or 70 km on the solar surface) photometric, spectroscopic and polarimetric data, with a high cadence ( 40 s), across the spectrum from 430 nm to 8.2 μm. This award supports five years of backbone support for BBSO operations, science, and education activities. BBSO will continue operating GST as a community facility. GST data and a substantial portion of the GST observing time are open to any solar physicists in the US. GST data have been and will be used in many Ph.D. theses. BBSO will continue supporting the NSF-REU program by providing undergraduate students with hands-on experience in astronomical data analysis, high-resolution observations, and instrument development. The graduate student support will include involvement by members of underrepresented groups in astrophysics and includes two summer schools at BBSO, to train graduate students/postdocs/junior researchers on techniques in ground-based solar physics. Over 30% of the team members on the project are female researchers.GST will continue playing a crucial and irreplaceable role in high-resolution solar physics to advance our understanding of the origin of space weather and the fundamental nature of the solar atmosphere. GST is the only large-aperture solar telescope that commonly experiences excellent seeing conditions lasting many hours on a regular basis. During the upcoming maximum of Solar Cycle 25, the period covered by the award, BBSO will obtain, analyze, and interpret a wealth of high-resolution solar data. Using this resource, BBSO will develop and apply analytical tools to attack a number of critical, leading-edge problems in space weather research, with a particular focus on high-resolution observations and studies of solar eruptions, including (1) Elementary Magnetic Reconnection, (2) Flare Energetics in Lower Solar Atmosphere, (3) 3-D Magnetic Structure of Flare Productive Active Regions, (4) Data-based Modeling to Understand Flare Triggering, and (5) Small-scale Magnetic Flux Ropes and Associated Jets. Solar eruptions are the key sources of space weather, impacting the daily life of humans through effects on communication, transportation, power systems, national defense, and space travel. Moreover, BBSO will work to enhance coordination with NSF’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) in telescope operations, instrumentation development and science. GST and DKIST are complementary in instrument capabilities and discovery space. BBSO community users, who are distributed across 61 universities, observatories, and institutes in 21 countries have been granted the majority of the GST observing time ( 80%). BBSO actively supports coordinated campaign observations with NASA space, rocket and balloon missions (e.g., Parker Solar Probe), and other large ground-based facilities. BBSO now provides a permanent home to the NSF’s Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigation of the Sun (SOLIS) facility built by the National Solar Observatory.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.