摘要
The occasion of the longest totality of an eclipse in the 18 yr 11^1/3 d saros cycle leads to taking stock of the scientific value of ground-based eclipse observations in this space age. Though a number of space satellites from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Russia study the Sun, scientists at eclipses can observe the solar chromosphere and corona at higher spatial resolution, at higher temporal resolution, and at higher spectral resolution than are possible aloft. Furthermore, eclipse expeditions can transport a wide variety of state-of-the-art equipment to the path of totality. Thus, for at least some years to come, solar eclipse observations will remain both scientifically valuable and cost-effective ways to study the outer solar atmosphere.
The occasion of the longest totality of an eclipse in the 18 yr 11^1/3 d saros cycle leads to taking stock of the scientific value of ground-based eclipse observations in this space age. Though a number of space satellites from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Russia study the Sun, scientists at eclipses can observe the solar chromosphere and corona at higher spatial resolution, at higher temporal resolution, and at higher spectral resolution than are possible aloft. Furthermore, eclipse expeditions can transport a wide variety of state-of-the-art equipment to the path of totality. Thus, for at least some years to come, solar eclipse observations will remain both scientifically valuable and cost-effective ways to study the outer solar atmosphere.
基金
supported by grants, most recently ATM-0552116
the Solar Terrestrial Research Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Division of Atmospheric Sciences, the Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society, NASA’s Planetary Astronomy Division for the CCD cameras, Sigma Xi, and the Rob Spring Fund and the Ryan Patrick Gaishin Fund at Williams College.
