Citizen CATE 2024: Extending Totality During the 8 April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse with a Distributed Network of Community Participants
Sarah A. Kovac, Amir Caspi, Daniel B. Seaton, Paul Bryans, Joan R. Burkepile, Sarah J. Davis, Craig E. DeForest, David Elmore, Sanjay Gosain, Rebecca Haacker, Marcus Hughes, Jason Jackiewicz, Viliam Klein, Derek Lamb, Valentin Martinez Pillet, Evy McUmber, Ritesh Patel, Kevin Reardon, Willow Reed, Anna Tosolini, Andrei E. Ursache, John K. Williams, Padma A. Yanamandra-Fisher, Daniel W. Zietlow, John Carini, Charles H. Gardner, Shawn Laatsch, Patricia H. Reiff, Nikita Saini, Rachael L. Weir, Kira F. Baasch, Jacquelyn Bellefontaine, Timothy D. Collins, Ryan J. Ferko, Leticia Ferrer, Margaret Hill, Jonathan M. Kessler, Jeremy A. Lusk, Jennifer Miller-Ray, Catarino Morales, Brian W. Murphy, Kayla L. Olson, Mark J. Percy, Gwen Perry, Andrea A. Rivera, Aarran W. Shaw, Erik Stinnett, Eden L. Thompson, Hazel S. Wilkins, Yue Zhang, Angel Allison, John J. Alves, Angelica A. Alvis, Lucinda J. Alvis, Alvin J. G. Angeles, Aalasia Batchelor, Robert Benedict, Amelia Bettati, Abbie Bevill, Katherine Bibee Wolfson, Christina Raye Bingham, Bradley A. Bolton, Iris P. Borunda, Mario F. Borunda, Adam Bowen, Daniel L. Brookshier, MerRick Brown, Fred Bruenjes, Lisa Bunselmeier, Brian E. Burke, Bo Chen, Chi-Jui Chen, Zhean Chen, Marcia Chenevey Long, Nathaniel D. Cook, Tommy Copeland, Adrian J. Corter, Lawson L. Corter, Michael J. Corter, Theresa N. Costilow, Lori E. Cypert, Derrion Crouch-Bond, Beata Csatho, Clayton C. Cundiff, Stella S. Cundiff, Darrell DeMotta, Judy Dickey, Hannah L. Dirlam, Nathan Dodson, Donovan Driver, Jennifer Dudley-Winter, Justin Dulyanunt, Jordan R. Duncan, Scarlett C. Dyer, Lizabeth D. Eason, Timothy E. Eason, Jerry L. Edwards, Jaylynn N. Eisenhour, Ogheneovo N. Erho, Elijah J. Fleming, Andrew J. Fritsch, Stephanie D. Frosch, Sahir Gagan, Joshua Gamble, Caitlyn L. Geisheimer, Ashleyahna George, Treva D. Gough, Jo Lin Gowing, Robert Greeson, Julie D. Griffin, Justin L. Grover, Simon L. Grover, Annie Hadley, Austin S. Hailey, Katrina B. Halasa, Jacob Harrison, Rachael Heltz Herman, Melissa Hentnik, Robert Hentnik, Mark Herman, Brenda G. Henderson, David T. Henderson, J. Michael Henthorn, Thomas Hogue, Billy J. House, Toni Ray Howe, Brianna N. Isola, Mark A. Iwen, Jordyn Johnson, Richard O. Johnson, Sophia P. Jones, Hanieh Karimi, Katy R. Kiser, Michael K. Koomson, Morgan M. Koss, Ryan P. Kovacs, Carol A. Kovalak Martin, Kassidy Lange, Kyle Lawrence Leathers, Michael H. Lee, Kevin W. Lehman, Garret R. Leopold, Hsiao-Chun Lin, Heather Liptak, Logan Liptak, Michael A. Liptak, Alonso Lopez, Evan L. Lopez, Don Loving, April Luehmann, Kristen M. Lusk, Tia L. MacDonald, Ian A. Mannings, Priscilla Marin, Christopher J. Martin, Jamie Martin, Alejandra Olivia Martinez, Terah L. Martinez, Elizabeth S. Mays, Seth McGowan, Edward M. McHenry, Kaz Meszaros, Tyler J. Metivier, Quinn W. Miller, Adam V. Miranda, Carlos Miranda, Pranvera Miranda, David M. W. Mitchell, Lydia N. Montgomery, Christopher P. Morse, Lillie B. Moore, Ira S. Morse, Raman Mukundan, Patrick T. Murphy, Nicarao J. Narvaez, Ahmed Nasreldin, Thomas Neel, Travis A. Nelson, Ellianna Nestlerode, Adam Z. Neuville, Brian A. Neuville, Allison Newberg, Jeremy L. Nicholson, Makenna F. Nickens, Sining Niu, Jedidiah O'Brien, Luis A. Otero, Jacob A. Ott, Joel A. Ott, Justin M. Ott, Michael E. Ott, Shekhar Pant, Ivan Parmuzin, Eric J. Parr, Sagar P. Paudel, Courtney M. Payne, Hayden B. Phillips, Elizabeth R. Prinkey, Kwesi A. Quagraine, Wesley J. Reddish, Azariah Rhodes, Stephen Kyle Rimler, Carlyn S. Rocazella, Tiska E. Rodgers, Devalyn Rogers, Oren R. Ross, Benjamin D. Roth, Melissa Rummel, John F. Rusho, Michael W. Sampson, Sophia Saucerman, James Scoville, Martin Wayne Seifert, Michael H. Seile, Thomas G. Skirko, Asad Shahab, David C. Smith, Emily R. Snode-Brenneman, Cassandra Spaulding, Neha Srivastava, Amy L. Strecker, Aidan Sweets, Morghan Taylor, Deborah S. Teuscher, Owen Totten, Stephen Totten, Stephanie Totten, Andrew Totten, Corina R. Ursache, Susan V. Benedict, Yolanda Vasquez, R. Anthony Vincent, Alan Webb, Walter Webb, Roderick M. Weinschenk, Sedrick Weinschenk, Cash A. Wendel, Elisabeth Wheeler, Bethany A. Whitehouse, Gabriel J. Whitehouse, David A. Wiesner, Philip J. Williams, John A. Zakelj
TL;DR
Citizen CATE 2024 extended totality observations along the North American path by deploying 43 identical observing setups across a distributed citizen-science network to capture nearly 60 minutes of polarized visible-light imagery of the inner and middle corona. The paper outlines science goals—middle-corona connectivity, nascent solar wind flow, and reconnection—alongside an education/engagement framework that broadened participation and post-eclipse community access to the equipment. It details the multi-layer project implementation, upgraded instrumentation (polarization-capable camera, Daystar optics), a user-friendly observing procedure, and a comprehensive training pipeline that built local capacity. Early data products include HDR polarimetric images and co-aligned polarization maps, with data-processing pipelines and public-release plans in progress, highlighting the practical impact of large-scale participatory science for solar physics and public literacy.
Abstract
The Citizen CATE 2024 next-generation experiment placed 43 identical telescope and camera setups along the path of totality during the total solar eclipse (TSE) on 8 April 2024 to capture a 60-minute movie of the inner and middle solar corona in polarized visible light. The 2024 TSE path covered a large geographic swath of North America and we recruited and trained 36 teams of community participants ("citizen scientists") representative of the various communities along the path of totality. Afterwards, these teams retained the equipment in their communities for ongoing education and public engagement activities. Participants ranged from students (K12, undergraduate, and graduate), educators, and adult learners to amateur and professional astronomers. In addition to equipment for their communities, CATE 2024 teams received hands-on telescope training, educational and learning materials, and instruction on data analysis techniques. CATE 2024 used high-cadence, high-dynamic-range (HDR) polarimetric observations of the solar corona to characterize the physical processes that shape its heating, structure, and evolution at scales and sensitivities that cannot be studied outside of a TSE. Conventional eclipse observations do not span sufficient time to capture changing coronal topology, but the extended observation from CATE 2024 does. Analysis of the fully calibrated dataset will provide deeper insight and understanding into these critical physical processes. We present an overview of the CATE 2024 project, including how we engaged local communities along the path of totality, and the first look at CATE 2024 data products from the 2024 TSE.