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 In this experiment, astronomers have wondered for a long time how the corona can be so much hotter than the surface of the sun. It can't be due only to heat coming off the surface of the sun because the corona would then be cooler than the solar surface and we know that it is much hotter.
So there must be some other way that energy from the sun heats up the corona. We know that the sun has a powerful magnetic field which contains a lot of energy. Astronomers have observed loops of hot gas in the corona which are held there by the sun's magnetic field. So the magnetic field of the sun acts like 'invisible string' that connects the corona to the rest of the sun. Some people think that the loop-shaped structures in the sun's magnetic field vibrate (or 'oscillate,' as scientists say) and this vibration carries the energy that heats up the corona. It's as if you and a friend held a string tight between you; if one of you 'twanged' the string, the other person would feel the vibration. Since the vibration of the string contains energy, your friend would be transferring energy to you through the string. So the sun may be 'twanging' its magnetic field and the corona may be heating up from this energy.
Prof. Pasachoff is looking at oscillations (or vibrations) in the corona loops to see if they are vibrating fast enough to carry enough energy to the corona from the rest of the sun.
The Williams College Eclipse Expedition is set up and training for eclipse day!
Professor Lee Hawkins of Wellesley College in Massachusetts works with student Carolina Artacho Guerra of Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia to calibrate the system as they prepare for eclipse day. The two are working with the Williams College eclipse expedition. They are taking images of the sun to find out if their tracking system is staying on the sun to make sure they capture as much information as possible during the eclipse.
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Read more about this experiment in Fun Stories!
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