68 ASTRONOMY • FEBRUARY 2018H
ere’s a question for
those of you who
attended junior high
school during the
past century: If your
school held a science fair, what
was your project? Did you make
a plaster of Paris volcano that
spewed vinegar and baking
soda lava? Maybe you planted
bean seeds in different soils and
monitored their growth?
Young people born in the
current century engage in sci-
ence projects that are far more
sophisticated. Consider Arianna
Roberts, a soon-to-be eighth-
grader at R.J. Grey Junior High
in Acton, Massachusetts. Last
summer, she took advantage of
the Great American Eclipse to
capture images of the Sun’s
inner corona. Her work would
help scientists understand not
only the intensity of the corona,
but also the motions of coronal
inf lows and loops, and interac-
tions between the corona and
solar prominences.
To be fair to volcano builders
and bean planters, Arianna has
21st-century technology on her
side, and she didn’t go it alone.
She was part of a project called
the Citizen Continental-
America Telescopic Eclipse
Experiment — Citizen CATE
for short. Supported by the
National Science Foundation
and the National Solar
Observatory (NSO), Citizen
CATE participants formed a
network of 68 stations stretch-
ing along the eclipse path from
Oregon to South Carolina. The
goal was to combine each sta-
tion’s observations to produce aOBSERVINGBASICS
BY GLENN CHAPLEA successful
eclipse adventure
An eighth-grader perseveres to contribute to solar science.in Carbondale. Among other
things, she learned how to oper-
ate and polar align the telescope
and apply the software. Back
home, she underwent tutoring
at MathWorks, received techni-
cal counseling from ATMoB
member Bruce Berger, and
made weekly “dry runs,” send-
ing images to the NSO.Eclipse day arrives
Months of planning and prepa-
ration plus a long journey to the
eclipse site can be all for naught
due to one factor: weather. “On
the day of the eclipse, the Sun
was shrouded with clouds,”
says Arianna. “It rained, and
we had to move the telescope
into the shelter tent. At the last
moment, during totality, the
clouds broke, and we were able
to capture images.”
In the end, she collected
almost a minute’s worth of
images, which she later uploaded
to the NSO. Summarizing her
adventure, Arianna adds, “I’m
pretty pumped up that we were
able to capture some of totality.
The eclipse itself was fantastic.
Experiencing a total solar eclipsecontinuous, 90-minute data set
of high-resolution, white light
images of the inner corona.
Arianna’s eclipse adventure
began in November 2016 when
her father, Harrison, who works
at MathWorks headquarters in
Natick, Massachusetts, heard
about the project. MathWorks’
MATLAB software was a criti-
cal element in the project, and
two of his co-workers were par-
ticipants. Arianna’s enthusiasm
upon learning about the pro-
gram prompted Harrison to call
Citizen CATE’s chair, Matthew
Penn of the NSO. The good
news was that additional sites
still needed to be filled, and
Arianna ultimately was assigned
to a seacoast site at Isle of Palms,
South Carolina — literally the
last station on the eclipse path.
Arianna’s team included her
father and her sister, Gabrielle.
Unfortunately, the deadline
to apply for a grant to cover
equipment costs had passed.
For the sake of uniformity, all
Citizen CATE stations were
required to use the same equip-
ment — telescope and mount,
filters, camera system, com-
puter, software, and miscella-
neous accessories — at a total
price tag of $3,600. Undaunted,
Arianna and her father set up
a GoFundMe site. That and
financial support from the
Amateur Telescope Makers of
Boston (ATMoB) raised the
necessary money.
In April 2017, Arianna and
other Citizen CATE partici-
pants attended a two-day
regional training program at
Southern Illinois Universityin person is so much better than
just looking at pictures of one!”
Amazingly, skies were rela-
tively cloud-free along much
of the eclipse path, and a
majority of the Citizen CATE
stations achieved success. “We
got excellent data at our first
site on the Pacific and our last
site on the Atlantic, so our
coverage is as long as it could
have been,” Penn says. For
updates on Citizen CATE,
visit http://www.citizencate.org.
What does the future hold
for this talented young lady?
Arianna hasn’t ruled out a
career in astronomy, and she
already has organized an infor-
mal astronomy club at her
school. “I’m fascinated by the
beauty and mystery of outer
space,” she says. “Maria Mitchell
is my role model.” Arianna’s
eclipse adventure begs the ques-
tion: What sorts of science proj-
ects will 22nd-century middle
school students tackle?
Questions, comments, or
suggestions? Email me at
[email protected]. Next
month, we’ll put the finishing
touches on the double star mar-
athon and look at some pairs
that didn’t make the list.BROWSE THE “OBSERVING BASICS” ARCHIVE AT http://www.Astronomy.com/Chaple.Above: Arianna Roberts prepares to deliver
an eclipse talk to the Amateur Telescope
Makers of Boston. BOTH PHOTOS: HARRISON ROBERTS
Left: Bad weather loomed before the
August 21 eclipse in Isle of Palms, South
Carolina, but the clouds parted for
totality and allowed Arianna Roberts
to photograph the Sun’s corona.Glenn Chaple has been an
avid observer since a friend
showed him Saturn through a
small backyard scope in 1963.