Solar Activities for Teachers
As far as stars go, our Sun is a very average star, but because it is so close to us we can learn a lot about stars by studying it. Some activities concerning the Sun are useful in teaching grade school science.
Go to the activities area and report on the three activities for children. Which do you think is the best? Why?
Visit the The Astronomy in Motion Sun Pages web site
|
The Use of Filters to Study the Sun
Colored filters are often used in astronomy in making images.
View the Sun through each of the three filters and with no filter. 1) Find similarities between the views. 2) Go to the "Let's discuss . . ." page. Why do the various views appear so different? 3) Which filter might you use to study the Sun's magnetic field?
Visit the The Calcium Filtered Sun web site
|
Solar Research: Yohkoh
The Sun is the subject of intense research. This site provides hundreds of images and movies of the Sun.
1) Explain what "Yohkoh" is. 2) Go to the page of recent images and describe similarities between images of the Sun's magnetic field and the Sun in visible light. 3) Describe similarities between the X-ray and ultraviolet views. 4) Is it important for A and B above that the images be made at about the same time? Explain.
Visit the Yohkoh Public Outreach Project web site
|
Coronal Loops
The opening photo of Chapter 11 shows some coronal loops, but it does not indicate their size.
Use the scale that accompanies the photos on this web page to estimate the size of some coronal loops in comparison to the size of the Earth.
Visit the Surfing for Sunbeams web site
|
Solar Activity Cycle
There is a regular pattern to the Sun's activity, the Solar Cycle.
Click on each of the graphs in order to enlarge them so that you can describe as closely as you can what part of the solar cycle we are in this year.
Visit the Measurements of Solar Activity web site
|
