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DeForest C, Seaton DB, Caspi A, Beasley M, Davis SJ, Erickson NF, Kovac SA, Patel R, Tosolini A, West MJ. CATEcor: An Open Science, Shaded-Truss, Externally-Occulted Coronagraph. SOLAR PHYSICS 2024; 299:78. [PMID: 38867765 PMCID: PMC11164819 DOI: 10.1007/s11207-024-02314-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
We present the design of a portable coronagraph, CATEcor (where CATE stands for Continental-America Telescope Eclipse), that incorporates a novel "shaded-truss" style of external occultation and serves as a proof-of-concept for that family of coronagraphs. The shaded-truss design style has the potential for broad application in various scientific settings. We conceived CATEcor itself as a simple instrument to observe the corona during the darker skies available during a partial solar eclipse, or for students or interested amateurs to detect the corona under ideal noneclipsed conditions. CATEcor is therefore optimized for simplicity and accessibility to the public. It is implemented using an existing dioptric telescope and an adapter rig that mounts in front of the objective lens, restricting the telescope aperture and providing external occultation. The adapter rig, including occulter, is fabricated using fusion deposition modeling (FDM; colloquially "3D printing"), greatly reducing cost. The structure is designed to be integrated with moderate care and may be replicated in a university or amateur setting. While CATEcor is a simple demonstration unit, the design concept, process, and trades are useful for other more sophisticated coronagraphs in the same general family, which might operate under normal daytime skies outside the annular-eclipse conditions used for CATEcor.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Amir Caspi
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO USA
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West MJ, Seaton DB, Wexler DB, Raymond JC, Del Zanna G, Rivera YJ, Kobelski AR, Chen B, DeForest C, Golub L, Caspi A, Gilly CR, Kooi JE, Meyer KA, Alterman BL, Alzate N, Andretta V, Auchère F, Banerjee D, Berghmans D, Chamberlin P, Chitta LP, Downs C, Giordano S, Harra L, Higginson A, Howard RA, Kumar P, Mason E, Mason JP, Morton RJ, Nykyri K, Patel R, Rachmeler L, Reardon KP, Reeves KK, Savage S, Thompson BJ, Van Kooten SJ, Viall NM, Vourlidas A, Zhukov AN. Defining the Middle Corona. SOLAR PHYSICS 2023; 298:78. [PMID: 37325237 PMCID: PMC10267282 DOI: 10.1007/s11207-023-02170-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric distances from 1.5 to 6 solar radii, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. The solar wind, eruptions, and flows pass through the region, and they are shaped by it. Importantly, the region also modulates inflow from above that can drive dynamic changes at lower heights in the inner corona. Consequently, the middle corona is essential for comprehensively connecting the corona to the heliosphere and for developing corresponding global models. Nonetheless, because it is challenging to observe, the region has been poorly studied by both major solar remote-sensing and in-situ missions and instruments, extending back to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) era. Thanks to recent advances in instrumentation, observational processing techniques, and a realization of the importance of the region, interest in the middle corona has increased. Although the region cannot be intrinsically separated from other regions of the solar atmosphere, there has emerged a need to define the region in terms of its location and extension in the solar atmosphere, its composition, the physical transitions that it covers, and the underlying physics believed to shape the region. This article aims to define the middle corona, its physical characteristics, and give an overview of the processes that occur there.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J. West
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - Daniel B. Seaton
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - David B. Wexler
- Space Science Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts USA
| | - John C. Raymond
- Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
| | - Giulio Del Zanna
- DAMTP, CMS, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA UK
| | - Yeimy J. Rivera
- Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
| | | | - Bin Chen
- New Jersey Institute of Technology, 323 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark, NJ 07102 USA
| | - Craig DeForest
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - Leon Golub
- Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
| | - Amir Caspi
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - Chris R. Gilly
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - Jason E. Kooi
- U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7213, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375 USA
| | - Karen A. Meyer
- Mathematics, School of Science & Engineering, University of Dundee, Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN UK
| | | | - Nathalia Alzate
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 670, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
- ADNET Systems, Inc., Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - Vincenzo Andretta
- INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, I-80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Frédéric Auchère
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - Dipankar Banerjee
- Indian Institute of Astrophysics, 2nd Block, Koramangala, Bangalore, 560034 India
| | - David Berghmans
- Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence – SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan - 3 - Avenue Circulaire, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Phillip Chamberlin
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Space Science, 3665 Discovery Dr, Boulder, CO 80303 USA
| | - Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta
- Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Cooper Downs
- Predictive Science Inc., 9990 Mesa Rim Rd, Suite 170, San Diego, CA 92121 USA
| | - Silvio Giordano
- INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, via Osservatorio 20, I-10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
| | - Louise Harra
- ETH-Zürich, Hönggerberg campus, HIT building, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Aleida Higginson
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 670, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
| | - Russell A. Howard
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20723 USA
| | - Pankaj Kumar
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 670, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA
- American University, Washington, DC 20016 USA
| | - Emily Mason
- Predictive Science Inc., 9990 Mesa Rim Rd, Suite 170, San Diego, CA 92121 USA
| | - James P. Mason
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20723 USA
| | - Richard J. Morton
- Department of Maths, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Katariina Nykyri
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 1 Aerospace Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32114 USA
| | - Ritesh Patel
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | - Laurel Rachmeler
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 USA
| | - Kevin P. Reardon
- National Solar Observatory, 3665 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO 80303 USA
| | | | - Sabrina Savage
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 USA
| | | | - Samuel J. Van Kooten
- Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, CO 80302 USA
| | | | - Angelos Vourlidas
- Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20723 USA
| | - Andrei N. Zhukov
- Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence – SIDC, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan - 3 - Avenue Circulaire, 1180 Brussels, Belgium
- Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia
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