Toward Next Generation Solar Coronagraph: Diagnostic Coronagraph Experiment

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing a next-generation coronagraph (NGC) in cooperation with NASA to measure the coronal electron density, temperature, and speed using four different filters around 400 nm. To demonstrate technology for the measurement through the 2017 total solar eclipse across the USA, KASI organized an expedition team to demonstrate the coronagraph measurement scheme and the instrumental technology. The observation site was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA. We built an eclipse observation system, so-called Diagnostic Coronal Experiment (DICE), which is composed of two identical telescopes to improve a signal to noise ratio. The observation was conducted with 4 wavelengths and 3 linear polarization directions according to the planned schedule in a limited total eclipse time of about 140 seconds.Polarization information of corona from the data was successfully obtained but we failed to get the coronal electron temperature and speed information due to a low signal-to-noise ratio of the optical system. In this study, we report the development of DICE and observation results. TSE observation and analysis by using our own developed instrument gave an important lesson that a coronagraph should be carefully designed to archive the scientific purpose. This experience through TSE observation will be very useful for a success of NASA-KASI joint missions called the Balloon-borne Investigation of the Temperature and Speed of Electrons in the Corona (BITSE) and COronal Diagnostic EXperiment (CODEX).