Dawson-Los Manos Canyon Reserve Annual Report

The telescope in the reserve is one of three operated synchronously (the other two are at Borrego and La Posta). They are used primarily to measure the solar wind which is a tenuous hot hydrogen gas blowing outwards from the sun. The system is also used to study the structure of radio sources such as the pulsar in the Crab Nebula and has occasionally been used to study the pulsation characteristics of other pulsars. The most important work, the study of the solar wind, depends on all three antennas working together. Hence it is accurate to say that our experimental work depends completely on the operation of the telescope in the Dawson Los Monos Reserve. The major objective of our work is to discover the origin of streams in the solar wind. These streams are the agents by which solar disturbances are carried to the earth where they cause enhanced aurora and radio communication blackouts. It is still not known just what features on the visible surface (e.g. sunspots) cause these streams. We think our observations can find this relationship between the solar surface and the solar wind because they simultaneously cover many positions around the sun. The problem with space observations is that all spacecraft are launched into orbit near the solar equator and there is seldom more than one up at a time. At present it seems, strangely enough, that these active streams actually originate in solar regions which are colder than normal and are called "coronal holes", Data is received 18 hours a day. The site is visited about once a month for maintenance. Pripciple investigators are G. Booker, V. H. Rumsey, W. A. Coles, and B. J. Rickett.该保护区内的望远镜为三台同步运行的观测设备之一（另外两台分别位于博雷戈（Borrego）和拉波斯塔（La Posta））。该系统主要用于测量太阳风（solar wind）——一种从太阳向外喷发的稀薄炽热氢气。此外，该系统还可用于研究射电源（radio sources）的结构，例如蟹状星云（Crab Nebula）中的脉冲星（pulsar），偶尔也被用于研究其他脉冲星的脉动特性。其中最为核心的研究工作——太阳风研究——依赖于三台天线的协同运行。因此可以确切地说，本实验研究完全依托道森洛斯莫诺斯保护区（Dawson Los Monos Reserve）内的望远镜的正常运转。 本研究的核心目标是探明太阳风等离子体流的起源。这类等离子体流是将太阳扰动传递至地球的载体，抵达地球后会引发极光增强与无线电通信中断现象。目前学界仍未明确，太阳可见表面的哪些特征（例如太阳黑子）催生了这类等离子体流。我们认为，本观测项目可通过同时覆盖太阳周边多个方位的观测数据，厘清太阳表面活动与太阳风之间的关联。空间观测存在固有局限：所有航天器均被发射至接近太阳赤道的轨道，且同一时间在轨航天器的数量通常不超过一台。而令人意外的是，当前研究表明这类活跃的等离子体流实际上源自太阳表面温度低于平均水平的区域，即所谓的‘冕洞（coronal holes）’。 该观测站每日可接收18小时的观测数据，运维人员约每月到访站点进行一次维护作业。本项目的首席研究员为G. 布克（G. Booker）、V. H. 勒姆西（V. H. Rumsey）、W. A. 科尔斯（W. A. Coles）以及B. J. 里基特（B. J. Rickett）。