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Abstract The Airborne Infrared Spectrometer (AIR-Spec) was commissioned during the 2017 total solar eclipse, when it observed five infrared coronal emission lines from a Gulfstream V research jet owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The second AIR-Spec research flight took place during the 2019 July 2 total solar eclipse across the south Pacific. The 2019 eclipse flight resulted in seven minutes of observations, during which the instrument measured all four of its target emission lines: Sxi1.393μm, Six1.431μm, Sxi1.921μm, and Feix2.853μm. The 1.393μm Sxiline was detected for the first time, and probable first detections were made of Sixi1.934μm and Fex1.947μm. The 2017 AIR-Spec detection of Feixwas confirmed and the first observations were made of the Feixline intensity as a function of solar radius. Telluric absorption features were used to calibrate the wavelength mapping, instrumental broadening, and throughput of the instrument. AIR-Spec underwent significant upgrades in preparation for the 2019 eclipse observation. The thermal background was reduced by a factor of 30, providing a 5.5× improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, and the postprocessed pointing stability was improved by a factor of 5 to <10″ rms. In addition, two imaging artifacts were identified and resolved, improving the spectral resolution and making the 2019 data easier to interpret. 

Abstract On 2017 August 21, the Airborne Infrared Spectrometer (AIR-Spec) observed the total solar eclipse at an altitude of 14 km from aboard the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft. The instrument successfully observed the five coronal emission lines that it was designed to measure: Six1.431μm, Sxi1.921μm, Feix2.853μm, Mgviii3.028μm, and Siix3.935μm. Characterizing these magnetically sensitive emission lines is an important first step in designing future instruments to monitor the coronal magnetic field, which drives space weather events, as well as coronal heating, structure, and dynamics. The AIR-Spec instrument includes an image stabilization system, feed telescope, grating spectrometer, and slit-jaw imager. This paper details the instrument design, optical alignment method, image processing, and data calibration approach. The eclipse observations are described and the available data are summarized. 

The middle corona, the region roughly spanning heliocentric distances from 1.5 to 6 solar radii, encompasses almost all of the influential physical transitions and processes that govern the behavior of coronal outflow into the heliosphere. The solar wind, eruptions, and flows pass through the region, and they are shaped by it. Importantly, the region also modulates inflow from above that can drive dynamic changes at lower heights in the inner corona. Consequently, the middle corona is essential for comprehensively connecting the corona to the heliosphere and for developing corresponding global models. Nonetheless, because it is challenging to observe, the region has been poorly studied by both major solar remote-sensing and in-situ missions and instruments, extending back to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/(SOHO) era. Thanks to recent advances in instrumentation, observational processing techniques, and a realization of the importance of the region, interest in the middle corona has increased. Although the region cannot be intrinsically separated from other regions of the solar atmosphere, there has emerged a need to define the region in terms of its location and extension in the solar atmosphere, its composition, the physical transitions that it covers, and the underlying physics believed to shape the region. This article aims to define the middle corona, its physical characteristics, and give an overview of the processes that occur there.