Citizen CATE at the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

2017年8月，美国大日食从俄勒冈州到南卡罗来纳州穿越美国大陆。“公民美国大陆日食望远镜”（Citizen CATE）成功地在68个地点部署了300多名志愿公民科学家，从东海岸到西海岸连续观测日全食。这一努力产生了一个新颖而独特的数据集，其中包含90分钟内太阳日冕的连续覆盖。2024年4月8日，日全食（TSE）将再次穿越美国，这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，包括更大画幅相机和偏振测量，提供更广阔的视野和诊断日冕密度，这是以前不可能的。CATE 2024项目将沿着日全食路径部署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的中日冕。之前的规划工作，包括选址、必要设备的确定和公民科学网络的初步发展已经进行了。该项目将开始执行计划的活动，其中包括购买设备和建造望远镜；为公民科学团队提供设备和太阳天文学方面的培训，这些团队将在其区域内培训团队；并实施软件升级以确保数据收集的一致性。公民科学培训团队的设备实践包括在西南研究所校园举行的研讨会，以及前往澳大利亚观看2023年4月的日全食。该项目更广泛的社会影响包括与日食路径沿线的印第安人和其他代表性不足的社区团体的接触，以及向社区团体捐赠望远镜供他们在日食后使用。CATE 2024将使用日冕的高节奏高动态范围（HDR）极化观测来表征形成日冕加热、结构和演化的物理过程，这些物理过程无法在TSE之外进行研究。CATE 2024的科学目标是：(1)确定跨越中日冕的结构的连通性，在那里日冕磁场从主要封闭转变为主要开放；(2)通过表征日食期间发生的小尺度动态，测量新生太阳风的流量；(3)通过识别与此过程相关的特征和动力学，识别和表征磁重联，磁重联被认为在太阳风中产生结构并加热中低日冕。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。

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 include a larger-format camera and polarization measurements, providing a wider field of view and diagnostic of coronal density not previously possible. 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 the hard to observe middle corona. Previous planning work including site selection, identification of necessary equipment, and initial development of the citizen science network has already been carried out. This project will begin the implementation of the planned activities, which includes equipment purchase and telescope building; training on equipment and in solar astronomy for citizen science teams that will train teams within their regions; and implementing software upgrades to ensure consistency in data collection. Practice with the equipment for the citizen science training teams includes a workshop to be held at the Southwest Research Institute campus and travel to Australia for the April 2023 total solar eclipse. The project’s broader societal impact includes engagement with Native American and other underrepresented community groups along the eclipse path and the donation of telescopes to community groups for their use after the eclipse. 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.