Constraining solar emission radius at 42 MHz during the 2024 total solar eclipse using a student-commissioned radio telescope
Abstract
Low-frequency solar radio emission is sourced in the solar corona, with sub-100 MHz radio emission largely originating from the 10\, plasma around 2 optical radii. However, the region of emission has yet to be constrained at 35--45\,MHz due to both instrumentation limitations and the rarity of astronomical events, such as total solar eclipses, which allow for direct observational approaches. In this work, we present the results from a student-led project to commission a low-frequency radio telescope array situated in the path of totality of the 2024 total solar eclipse in an effort to probe the middle corona. The Deployable Low-Band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (DLITE) is a low-frequency radio array comprised of four dipole antennas, optimized to observe at 35--45\,MHz, and capable of resolving the brightest radio sources in the sky. We constructed a DLITE station in Observatory Park, a dark sky park in Montville, Ohio. Results of observations during the total solar eclipse demonstrate that DLITE stations can be quickly deployed for observations and provide constraints on the radius of solar emission at our center observing frequency of 42\,MHz. In this work, we outline the construction of DLITE Ohio and the solar observation results from the total solar eclipse that transversed North America in April 2024.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2412.07034,
title = {Constraining solar emission radius at 42 MHz during the 2024 total solar eclipse using a student-commissioned radio telescope},
author = {Olivia R. Young and Timothy E. Dolch and Joseph F. Helmboldt and Christopher Mentrek and Louis P. Dartez and Michael T. Lam and Sophia V. Sosa Fiscella and Evan Bretl and Colin Joyce and Johannes Loock and Grace Meyer and Annabel Peltzer and Joseph Petullo and Parker Reed and Emerson Sigtryggsson and Benjamin Bassett and Andrew B. Hawken and Alejandro Z. Heredia and Paige Lettow and Whit Lewis and Mikayla Manna and Nicholas Mirochnikoff and Michael Zemcov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.07034},
year = {2024}
}