These images show the expected direction of the Sun's coronal magnetic field during the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 based on a model of the solar corona from the Predictive Science, Inc. team (courtesy J. Linker and P. Riley; see: http://www.predsci.com/corona/aug2017eclipse/). The red/blue image and gray/black image show what the Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter (CoMP) instrument at MLSO in Hawaii is expected to see on the day of the eclipse. The CoMP instrument takes images of the Sun's corona in polarized light of ionized Iron which allows scientists to determine the direction of the coronal magnetic field (the red/blue image) and how the coronal structures are polarized (the gray/black) image. The lines superposed on both images show the direction of the Sun's magnetic field.
Understanding the structure and strength of the coronal magnetic field is of primary importance for predicting Space Weather since most forms of solar activity derive their energy from the coronal magnetic field. CoMP records images of the Sun nearly every day. To get the data please visit the MLSO Home Page.
With the eclipse nary a fortnight away, final instrument testing is gathering pace. A team led by Harvard University PhD student, Jenna Samra, met at NCAR's Research Aviation Facility in Broomfield, Co on Tuesday to perform one of their final tests before the big day.
Magnetism defines the complex and dynamic solar corona. It determines the magnetic loop structure that dominates images of the corona, and stores the energy necessary to drive coronal eruptive phenomena and flare explosions.
The NASA Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission is a dual-channel imaging spectrograph that will be carried on a commercial communications satellite in geostationary orbit. Launch is scheduled for January, 2018.
Observational solar physics is entering a new era with the advent of new 1.5 m class telescopes with adaptive optics, as well as the Daniel K. Inouye 4 m telescope which will become operational in 2019. Major outstanding problems in solar physics all relate to the solar magnetic field.
The variation of the vector magnetic field along structures in the solar corona remains unmeasured.
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