Radio JOVE is planning to use radio telescopes to make coordinated observations of the Sun for the October 14, 2023 and the April 8, 2024 solar eclipses. In support of NASA Citizen Science and in partnership with the Heliophysics Big Year (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/helio-big-year/), Radio JOVE wants your help to study the Sun. [Radio JOVE is a worldwide community. We recognize that these two solar eclipse events happen over the Americas, but anyone is welcome to participate and learn with us.]
To coordinate and help our observers, we have practice sessions scheduled for 2023 and 2024. Our 2023 schedule is:
Radio JOVE, the SunRISE Mission, and others are interested in studying the Sun at radio frequencies below 30 MHz. We want to better understand the radio emissions caused by solar activity and emitted in the solar corona by energetic plasma. We learn about radio emission processes and radio wave propagation from the Sun to the Earth, and specifically through Earth's ionosphere. A network of radio telescopes can help us understand the temporal and spatial variations in the ionosphere like changes in plasma density, propagation cutoff frequencies, radio fadeouts, and latitudinal variations.
It is well known that the plasma in the ionosphere changes significantly between the nighttime and daytime, and it also demonstrates short-term changes because of the lunar shadow during a solar eclipse. We are observing the Sun during the solar eclipse to try to quantify these changes to better understand the ionosphere.
We seek observations at single or multiple frequencies anywhere from 15-30 MHz both inside and outside the path of the eclipse to study the solar radio emissions and the ionosphere. Use your Radio JOVE 1.1 receiver (20.1 MHz), Radio JOVE 2.0 SDRplay radio (16-24 MHz), or custom built FSX spectrographs (15-30 MHz) for your observations. By using multiple radio telescopes across the Americas, we'll have a larger database for comparisons. Ideally, we observe the Sun many days before and after the eclipse at a particular location so we can compare them to the observations during the day of the eclipse. However, for temporary setups, single day observations on the day of the eclipse are highly valued.
A. General Information for the 2023 Annualar Solar Eclipse, October 14, 2023
Begin Observations 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT)
Maximum eclipse is 18:00 UTC (14:00 EDT)
End Observations 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT)
Because the annular eclipse lasts about 4 hours, we want to observe about 6 hours total to get data before/after the begin/end time of the eclipse. We want observations within three hours of the maximum eclipse (i.e. +/- 3 hours of 18:00 UTC on 14 October 2023)
Here is excellent timing information for any location:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2023-october-14
B. Radio Telescope Setup and Observation
C. Data Analysis and Data Archiving
See this Video to help you with archiving your data: https://youtu.be/Wzd1Qq5RtrI
Thank you for your participation in NASA Citizen Science!