Program Overview

Solar flares have a significant impact on space weather and life on earth.  They are the most powerful explosive events in our solar system. The DEB Initiative is conducting daily solar observations in hopes of imaging solar disk changes during a white light X-class flare. These high energy solar flares produce large increases in the brightness of the solar disk in the flaring region that can be observed with the DEB Initiative solar telescopes at high cadence rates capable of capturing dynamic data as the flare occurs.

The DEB Initiative observation setup is capable of sub-second frame rate, full solar disk imaging in white light.  The highest frame rates possible for the setup (up to 60fps) are achievable with a 15 second image capture on a one minute cadence.  In other words, an observation setup operating at maximum frame rate can acquire 900 images (60 fps * 15 seconds) each minute.  To sustain this high frame rate and achieve continuous solar observations, four DEB setups in the telescope network can be used to image the Sun at alternating quarters of a minute starting at 0 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds and 45 seconds.  At this high frame rate, just over 400MB of data is acquired each minute or around 25GB per hour per setup.  While it is not possible for teams to save all data from several observations, we can save data from approximately +/- 1 hour around a GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) detected X class flare.

How to Participate

This observation campaign is in beta phase and is open to any existing DEB team.  Team leaders should review the Daily Observation Procedures.pdf document and follow the observation checklist on the day they observe.  Most importantly, make sure you sign up for an observation time in the document “Daily_Observations signup_dates.xlsx file where dates = the current week you are observing. During the sign up, you will note which quarter you are observing to determine which script you will run.  Signing up allows everyone to see who is observing so we can coordinate observation coverage and notify observers in the event of a detected flare. When you sign up, list your time in UTC, but use your current local date.  You can lookup the UTC time for your timezone using a tool like https://www.timeanddate.com/time/difference/timezone/utc.

Data is saved automatically during the observation and quick look images are uploaded once every minute to debra.physics.siu.edu.  You can use the quick look images to verify you are on target throughout your observation time.  Color coding on debra has been added so anyone can easily see what sites are currently or have recently observed.

Before you delete any data from your laptop, check the online signup document to see if there was a solar flare on the day you observed.  If not, you can safely delete the data.  If there was a flare, keep the data and coordinate with the DEB team to upload your raw data FITS files to us.

Thank you for participating in DEB solar flare observations. During this beta phase, we welcome feedback from teams on procedures so that we can make improvements.

DEB training videos were made possible through our partnership with Einstein’s Incredible Universe (EIU), an NSF funded project led by Cosmic Picture. Videos were produced by the Center of Teaching Excellence at SIU Carbondale. They are available in two different versions. The first version of the videos is split into two approximately 20 minute segments. These videos were produced specifically for our EIU girl groups, but are excellent training for any new DEB teams.

Training videos featuring two former Citizen CATE Experiment 2017 volunteers, Adriana Macieira and Sammy Hasler, are in two parts and available on Vimeo.

DEB EIU training part 1, Introduction and Assembly

DEB EIU training part 2, Observation Procedure

DEB Training featuring the DEB Coordinator, Chris Mandrell, is split into several small segments available on Vimeo. Note, this is the same training as above just explained in a slightly different way and split into smaller segments. These shorter segments are useful for teams looking to watch a shorter clip on a specific subject.

DEB Training Segments – Mandrell

We have distributed all our DEB equipment and have 82 teams in the project. Some of the teams are self funded and have purchased their own equipment. Teams that had existing equipment such as a tracking mount and a laptop have been able to participate by purchasing only the additional components they need. A full list of the equipment is provided below. Note that the cost of this equipment is approximately $1,800 per setup.

Mount: iOptron Skyhunter EQ/AZ

Telescope: Askar FMA 180 Pro

Camera: Neptune-M Player 1 Camera

Solar Filter: 60mm Solar Filter, Rainbow Symphony, Black Polymer

Adapter: ZWO M42 to M48 Extender (16.5mm), ZWO T2-M48-16.5

Extension Tube Kit: SVBONY, SKU: F9190A

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 15 3520, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

DEB team members with questions about observations encouraged to attend office hours hosted by Chris Mandrell in our DEB Discord Lounge.  If you need access to Discord contact your team or regional leader or email us at deb.initiative@gmail.com. 

Wednesday: 4 – 5pm central time

Thursday: 9 – 10am central time