The images from all 68 Citizen CATE sites should increase understanding of the corona’s internal movements.Ĭitizen CATE scientists plan on taking images every 10 seconds during totality. During previous eclipses, scientists noticed changes in the corona above the Sun’s southern pole but they could not measure any radial movement because of limited data from two images. Scientists also hope to measure movement within the plumes using the extended observation session. Combining data from all the sites should give scientists a higher resolution map of the plumes’ location. The long-duration sequence of images gathered by Citizen CATE provide unique opportunities to study both static and dynamic features of the corona.ĭuring their window of totality, magnetograms from each site will trace polar plumes that appeared above the northern and southern solar coronal holes during previous eclipses while the Sun was relatively quiet. With the Moon’s distant disk blocking the entire Sun, solar scientists can measure and study the corona near the edge of the Moon in more detail. But because the artificial disk is close to the observer, the edge of the Sun becomes distorted making precise measurements and observations difficult. Scientists create artificial eclipses using a coronagraph, an instrument that covers the Sun’s bright disk allowing study of the outer atmosphere of the Sun. We can only see the corona when the photosphere is covered up, much like shading your eyes from a bright light to see something fainter nearby. Normally the bright photosphere, or solar surface, overpowers the Sun’s faint, wispy outer atmosphere called the corona. High resolution image of the inner corona of the total solar eclipse over Gabon on November 3, 2013. The resulting dataset will consist of an unprecedented 90 minutes of continuous, high-resolution, and rapid-cadence images detailing the Sun’s inner corona – a region of the solar atmosphere typically very challenging to image. As the Moon’s shadow passes from west to east, each telescope in the Citizen CATE constellation will be ready to take up the observation as the shadow appears on the horizon. This celestial event will begin with a partial solar eclipse and culminate in about 2 minutes of totality. Each site will produce more than 1,000 images.
#ARDUINO ROYALTEK GPS SOFTWARE#
The goal of CATE is to produce a scientifically unique data set: high-resolution, rapid cadence white light images of the inner corona for 90 minutes.įor the Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment, scientists, students and volunteers will track the Sun using 68 identical telescopes, software and instrument packages spaced along the 2,500 mile path of totality. CATE is currently a joint project involving volunteers from more than 20 high schools, 20 universities, informal education groups, astronomy clubs across the country, 5 national science research labs and 5 corporate sponsors. The Citizen CATE (Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse) Experiment aims to capture images of the inner solar corona using a network of more than 60 telescopes operated by citizen scientists, high school groups and universities.