Preparing for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse with Citizen CATE

The Citizen Continental-America Telescope Eclipse (CATE) Experiment is designed to take continuous images of the solar corona over the full duration of the 2024 total solar eclipse across America. To achieve this, we will recruit 40 groups of citizen scientists along the path of the eclipse in order to obtain a 60-minute uninterrupted movie of the solar corona on April 8, 2024 (18:27-19:35 UT). Using the polarization data we obtain, we will map the density distribution of free electrons in the solar corona and study connectivity in the middle and lower corona. During the summer of 2022, we tested various candidate observing setups that will be distributed to citizen scientists along the path of the eclipse. Different items that we tested include a DayStar refractor telescope, PointGrey CMOS camera, FLIR BlackFly polarizing imager, and a diverse array of telescope accessories and software. We define a photon transfer curve for each camera to characterize and analyze its performance and suitability for the high dynamic range imaging required for the CATE project. We found that the telescope and polarization camera have satisfactory performances, making them reliable candidates for the 2024 eclipse. After completing further analysis of the 2017 CATE data (see Penn et al., 2020; DOI:10.1088/1538-3873/ab558c), we identified multiple improvements to the software and procedures to improve data collection and quality in 2024. Other preparatory tasks completed this summer included identifying prospective observing sites along the eclipse path and organizing the hierarchical management structure for the project. We are organizing a workshop for CATE volunteers and creating teaching materials with a universal curriculum to train everyone involved with this project. This workshop will take place at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas in January 2023. Volunteer observers will receive educational lectures and hands-on training with the exact equipment they will use on eclipse day. Here, we present the results of our initial preparatory planning phase, including equipment characterization, improvements to the software and data reduction pipeline, plans for the 2023 training workshop, and prospects for the 2024 eclipse observing campaign.