Solar Coronal Flattening during the Total Solar Eclipse of August 2017 from CATE Data

Volume 50 number 2 (2022)

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Jennifer Birriel

Department of Physics, Earth Science, and Space Systems Engineering, Morehead State University, 150 University Boulevard, Morehead, KY 40351; j.birriel@moreheadstate.edu

Joseph Teitloff

Department of Physics, Earth Science, and Space Systems Engineering, Morehead State University, 150 University Boulevard, Morehead, KY 40351; jteitloff@moreheadstate.edu

Abstract

The Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment used a fleet of 68 identical telescopes spread along the line of totality to acquire images of the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. The original science goal was to construct a 90-minute, high-definition movie of the eclipse to examine the dynamics of the magnetic fields and plasmas in the solar corona. We used processed white light images from three CATE sites to examine the solar coronal flattening parameter, ε. The flattening parameters from sites 000 and 002, near the start of the eclipse, are the same as that measured for site 044b, the mid-point of the eclipse. Our average flattening parameter, ε = 0.24 ± 0.09, is consistent with values obtained by other observers for the 2017 solar eclipse. Furthermore, it is consistent with values obtained during other eclipses at the same solar phase as the 2017 eclipse, Φ = 0.789. These results represent yet another useful scientific result from the CATE Experiment.