arXiv subjects

Patricia H. Reiff

Publications and source records attributed to Patricia H. Reiff.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Citizen CATE 2024: Extending Totality During the 8 April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse with a Distributed Network of Community Participants

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.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2025

Engaging and Educating Eclipse Observers Through Workshops, Media, Planetarium shows and Citizen Science

The Heliophysics Big Year was an extended year where major solar events engaged the public. It included two eclipses (annular on October 14, 2023 and total on April 8, 2024), plus solar max and the Parker Solar Probe perihelion December 24, 2024. After the eclipse of 2017, many millions more Americans planned to view the solar corona. We expanded our eclipse website with activities, citizen science projects, resources, training videos, equipment, and external links. We were the Southwest Regional Coordinator for Citizen CATE 2024 project, training the state coordinators and their teams with the equipment and procedures. We trained teachers at local, regional, national, and international workshops, providing eclipse viewing cards, lenses to make solar cup projectors, a safe viewing screen pattern, and access to the training materials. We made presentations to the media and hosted public events to demonstrate safe eclipse viewing techniques. HMNS hosted live viewing for the annular and total plus solstice and equinox events, reaching tens of thousands of people. HMNS also secured a grant to provide 100 eclipse viewing cards for every public school (8,800+) in Texas. We distributed another 57,000 eclipse viewers to teachers and the public. We appeared in media both in advance of the eclipses and as live commentators. The most lasting and impactful product was our planetarium show Totality, which was given away free and shown in various formats (flatscreen, fisheye, or prewarped). Over 180,000 views of the show and its animations have been documented. We continued to improve our space weather forecasting site, which correctly predicted the major solar storms of May 10-11 and October 8-10, 2024. In total, we reached nearly two million learners.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2024

Simulation Models for Exploring Magnetic Reconnection

Simulations have played a critical role in the advancement of our knowledge of magnetic reconnection. However, due to the inherently multiscale nature of reconnection, it is impossible to simulate all physics at all scales. For this reason, a wide range of simulation methods have been crafted to study particular aspects and consequences of magnetic reconnection. This chapter reviews many of these methods, laying out critical assumptions, numerical techniques, and giving examples of scientific results. Plasma models described include magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), Hall MHD, Hybrid, kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC), kinetic Vlasov, Fluid models with embedded PIC, Fluid models with direct feedback from energetic populations, and the Rice Convection Model (RCM).

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

A Chromatic Treatment of Linear Polarization in the Solar Corona at the 2023 Total Solar Eclipse

The broadband solar K-corona is linearly polarized due to Thomson scattering. Various strategies have been used to represent coronal polarization. Here, we present a new way to visualize the polarized corona, using observations from the 2023 April 20 total solar eclipse in Australia in support of the Citizen CATE 2024 project. We convert observations in the common four-polarizer orthogonal basis (0°, 45°, 90°, & 135°) to -60°, 0°, and +60° (MZP) polarization, which is homologous to R, G, B color channels. The unique image generated provides some sense of how humans might visualize polarization if we could perceive it in the same way we perceive color.

physics.pop-ph↗