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Total solar eclipses provide scientists with unique opportunities to study our nearest star, the Sun, and learn about the outer atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona which is the source of the solar wind and large solar storms which engulf the earth and make up "space weather". Even today, with modern satellites and spacecraft, a total solar eclipse still provides scientists with an opportunity to study the detailed fine scale structure of the inner corona in a way not possible from space.
On the northern tip of the island of Curacao, two scientists from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Dr. Don Hassler and Dr. Dave Slater, worked in collaboration with a team led by Dr. Steve Tomczyk from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado to study this detailed fine scale magnetic structure of the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, with new, large format electron detectors called charge coupled devices or CCDs. SwRI scientists observed and gathered information about the smallest observable structures in the solar corona, which appear as light and dark "threads", analogous to studying individual strands of hair on a person's wavy head of hair. Knowledge of this detailed small-scale structure will help scientists understand the physical conditions and composition of the Sun's corona and the magnetic field which controls its structure. Ultimately, this information may help scientists understand how and why the Sun's magnetic field reverses direction or flip-flops every 11 years and what causes the solar storms (called coronal mass ejections or CMEs) which sometimes erupt and slam into the earth, causing large, colorful aurora but also knocking out satellites and electric power grids.
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