AGS-FIRP Track 3: Solar Eclipse Observations with the Airborne Coronal Emission Surveyor (ACES)

AGS-FIRP 第 3 轨：使用机载日冕发射测量仪 (ACES) 进行日食观测

• 批准号: 2235072
• 负责人: Jenna Samra
• 金额: $ 22万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2235072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: AGS; FIRP; Track; Solar; Eclipse

This project is a Track-3 deployment to commission a new imaging Fourier transform spectrometer with an observation of the solar corona from the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V (GV) during the 2024 total solar eclipse across North America. The Airborne Coronal Emission Surveyor (ACES), currently under construction on NSF award AGS-MRI #2117582, will survey the 1–4 μm wavelength region to look for lines that may be viable candidates for measuring the coronal magnetic field and plasma diagnostics at large solar radii. ACES is a new focal plane instrument enabled by the Airborne Stabilized Platform for InfraRed Experiments (ASPIRE, AGS-MRI #1919809), commissioned in 2021 with observations from the GV. It builds on the success of ASPIRE and the Airborne InfraRed Spectrometer (AIR-Spec, AGS- MRI #1531549 & AGS #1822314) to expand the infrared window for thermal and magnetic studies of the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The eclipse campaign and data reduction effort are modeled on the very successful AIR-Spec missions to observe the 2017 and 2019 total solar eclipses. Following deployment, the instrument will be delivered to NCAR as a resource for the solar physics community. Two REU students and one graduate student will be trained. The team is a diverse group of early to mid-career scientists and engineers and is led by a female PI.During its six-minute commissioning observation from the GV, ACES will observe from an altitude of 14 km with a spectral resolution of 0.5 cm−1 and a spatial plate scale of 20" across a field of view of 2000"×100". The instrument will search for more than twenty forbidden lines of ionized magnesium, aluminum, silicon, sulfur, argon, calcium, iron, and nickel, at least half of which have never before been observed. The novel research goals include: identifying the brightest spectral lines; documenting their widths and higher order properties of the line profiles; measuring contributions from collisional versus radiative excitation; documenting the variations of all of the above as a function of the features observed and projected radius. The science questions probe the diagnostic potential of emission lines in the 1–4 μm range, the variation of plasma density and temperature with radial distance, the ratio of radiative to collisional excitation as a function of radius, and the variation of elemental abundances across the corona. The solar feed for ACES will be provided by ASPIRE, which was constructed with NSF award AGS-MRI #1919809 and commissioned in December 2021. ASPIRE enables the large aperture, high altitude, and image stability (6 arcsec RMS in a 1-s exposure) necessary to measure the infrared corona with high sensitivity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目是 Track-3 部署，旨在调试新型成像傅里叶变换光谱仪，在 2024 年北美日全食期间使用 NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V (GV) 观测日冕。 ) )，目前正在 NSF 授予 AGS-MRI #2117582 的建设中，将调查 1-4 μm 波长区域，以寻找可能是测量波长的可行候选线。 ACES 是一种新型焦平面仪器，由红外实验机载稳定平台（ASPIRE，AGS-MRI #1919809）启用，并基于 GV 的观测结果进行调试。 ASPIRE 和机载红外光谱仪（AIR-Spec、AGS-MRI #1531549 和 AGS #1822314）扩大了太阳外层大气热和磁研究的红外窗口。日食活动和数据缩减工作以非常成功的 AIR-Spec 观测 2017 年和 2019 年日全食任务为蓝本。仪器将作为太阳物理学界的资源交付给 NCAR，该团队将接受培训，由早期到中期的多元化团队组成。科学家和工程师，由一名女性 PI 领导。在 GV 的六分钟调试观测期间，ACES 将从 14 公里的高度进行观测，光谱分辨率为 0.5 cm−1，空间板块尺度为 20"，跨越仪器视野2000"×100"，可搜索电离镁、铝、硅、硫、氩、钙、铁、镍等二十多种禁线。其中至少有一半以前从未被观察到：识别最亮的谱线；记录它们的宽度和谱线轮廓的高阶特性；记录所有谱线的变化；上述科学问题探讨了 1-4 μm 范围内发射线的诊断潜力、等离子体密度和温度随径向距离的变化、辐射与碰撞激发的比率。 ACES 的太阳能供给将由 ASPIRE 提供，该项目由 NSF AGS-MRI #1919809 建造，并于 2021 年 12 月投入使用。ASPIRE 实现了大孔径、高海拔。 ，以及高灵敏度测量红外电晕所需的图像稳定性（1 秒曝光中 6 弧秒 RMS）。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为是值得的通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来提供支持。