Total solar eclipses invariably offer unique opportunities for scientific explorations and discoveries, and for people of all walks of life and ages to witness one of Nature?s most fascinating display of beauty. On August 21, 2017, a rare total solar eclipse event will occur that will traverse the continental United States, starting in Oregon and ending in South Carolina. The previous such occasion was on 29 July 1878.
Drs. Marvel and Habbal, the principal invesitgators here, are members of a committee planning a series of workshops to bring together scientists, observers, educators, amateur astronomers and business partners to plan for this unique event. The first workshop was held on 14-15 April, 2012 in Maryland, with approximately 50 attendees. This award is to support the second workshop to be held August 21-22, 2014, at the University of Missouri, Columbia, which lies in the shadow band. It will bring together eclipse experts, educators and scientists to plan for this 2017 event at the location of the largest university along the eclipse path.
The workshop will allow plans to be developed to capitalize on the unique scientific and public outreach potential of the 2017 eclipse. By traversing the extended US landmass, the shadow band of the 2017 eclipse will provide almost uninterrupted observations of the solar corona over 90 minutes, from its start in the northwest to its end in the southeast. Such a span will provide the opportunity to capture the temporal variations and spatial characteristics of coronal structures on times scales of fractions of seconds, to minutes, to over an hour. Since a number of identical experiments can be set up along the path of totality to maximize chances of success, the 2017 eclipse promises an optimal scientific yield.
The broader impact of this activity will be in its ability to spark the interest of the public at large and to entice them to take part in exploratory and discovery opportunities. This workshop will focus on developing ideas and plans for unique observations and outreach activities in astronomical experiments that will involve a significant fraction of the population of the USA, as well as a large number of scientists, amateurs and visitors from diffrent countries across the globe, and for engaging the general public of all ages in the excitement and beauty of transient astronomical phenomena and scientific discoveries. In addition, the workshop will allow planning for eclipse observations that will test new technologies and concepts for later incorporation in ground-based and space-based observatories.
