Coronal Science from the Citizen CATE Experiment
Abstract
The 2017 August total solar eclipse path crosses the USA from Oregon to South Carolina, and the path is accessible at countless points. At any single location totality lasts about 2 minutes, but the lunar shadow takes 90 minutes to traverse the continent. With a collection of 60 identical telescopes at 50 mile intervals, the Citizen CATE Experiment will collect white images of the solar corona from 1 to 2 solar radii with 1500km resolution for a period of 90 minutes.
This unique data set probes spatial and temporal domains impossible to observe from the ground or space. Assuming a typical solar minimum corona, our science will focus on the dynamics of polar plumes and the prominence-coronal interface. Polar plumes are thought to host periodic or quasi-periodic density enhancements moving radially outward; current work suggests 3-15% density enhancements moving at 60-210 km/sec with periods from 7-15 minutes. Rayleigh-Taylor plasma instabilities observed in prominences at 2250km size scales with upward velocities of 20 km/sec are thought to form larger dynamic structures in the hot coronal plasma after leaving the prominence. The CATE data, with transverse velocity sensitivities of 1 to 145 km/sec during the 90 minute duration will be used to tightly constrain both of these solar phenomena. If the corona shows eruptive activity during the eclipse, the CATE data can provide unique and stunning measurements of CMEs, active region loop oscillations or even coronal inflows. We will review results from CATE tests from the Faroe Islands in 2015 and from Indonesia in 2016, and provide a current status of CATE for the 2017 eclipse. The education and public outreach impact of this event, which may be directly viewed by 20 million and seen on TV and internet by more than 100 million will also be discussed.- Publication:
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Solar Heliospheric and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE 2016)
- Pub Date:
- July 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016shin.confE.154P