The COronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO) is a unique ground-based facility designed to address current shortfalls in our capability to measure magnetic fields in the solar corona. COSMO comprises three elements. The first two focus on chromospheric and prominence magnetometry (ChroMag), and observing the electron scattered K-corona (K-Cor). The third and central instrument is the 1.5-m aperture Large Coronagraph (LC) that will continuously observe the radiation emitted by the corona in a number of visible and near-IR emission lines.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has received funding approval to survey prospective locations for the Coronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO). This new observatory offers the potential to transform our fundamental understanding of magnetic fields in the Sun’s atmosphere and how they drive the formation of solar eruptions and other space weather that can affect technologies on Earth.