The Sun Project
Earth System Science 4th
Quarter 1999
Science Fiction Short Story: The
Wind from the Sun
"The Challenge is Out There!"
You just go somewhere around the
Earth's magnetosphere, or just barely outside it, and if you learn
how to
use different kinds of instruments to look at frequencies in the
electromagnetic spectrum which our own senses are incapable of looking
at,
you can find exotic structures, things which nobody has seen before.
It's
just as exciting as looking at a star.
; Adam Szabo, NASA Goddard
|
Background
Information and Resources
1. Define this vocabulary
Review recent information about the Sun. Define this vocabulary:
corona, prominence, solar flare after reading
the links from the Aug
30, 1998 Astronomy Picture of the Day. Hand
in the three definitions.
2. Take Notes: Electromagnetic Spectrum and
the Sun Quiz
Review
the Electromagnetic Spectrum and other Sun concepts at this site: StarLight/Start
Bright .
Take notes and prepare for a quiz on Monday, April
25.
Note: Graphic showing types of EM
radiation that get to the Earth's surface through the atmosphere.
3. Take the
Sun Tour.
Answer the following
questions. You do not need to copy the questions, but you must
include the question in your answer. Hand in
your answers.
1. Describe the center
of the Sun.
2. How has the photosphere
changed over the past few years?
3. What is a sunspot?
What is the solar cycle?
4. Compare the grainyness
shown in the web picture to the Poster on the blackboard. What is
the grainulation?
What did you learn from the granulation movie? How large is each
granulation cell?
5. Describe
the difference between a coronal hole and a solar flare. How long
does it take for material from a
coronal hole to reach Earth?
4. Review these sites and become familiar
with the resource available here.
The
Stanford Solar Center
Windows
on the Universe - The Sun
5. For your reference:
Vocabulary:
SOHO
Glossary
Additional
Resources: Sun
Resources
A Sun Investigation
Your task for this project is to create a web notebook
on
The Sun/Earth Connection
A daily record and analysis of the Sun's activity
* Work in Teams of two students
* Create an web cover page with a Table of Contents, with six items
* Link to your own pages on the following assignments
* Web notebooks drafts are due Friday, May 7, 1999
* Final projects due May 14, 1999 |
1. A diagram of the structure of the Sun
Layers
of the Sun
Describe the 7 structures, giving location, temperature, type of radiation,
and definition.
(core, radiation zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, sunspots,
solar flare, corona)
View the granulation
movie.
Take the Granulation
Quiz
2. A diagram of the Sun-Earth Connection
Explain the Earth-Sun
diagram
(bottom of the page) in your own words.
A Sun/Earth Connection
web site - Earth's
Magnetosphere
3. A record of Sun Spot data over 8 days
Analyze
8 days of sunspot data.
Get daily data
here. Capture one sunspot image daily and add it to your webpage.
Keep a data
sheet on paper and a daily record on a transparency.
Analyze your
results and write up a summary of what you learned on your webpage.
4. A Report on the speed of a Coronal
Mass Ejection (CME)
Coronal
Mass Ejection activity
(Mary will lead this on Wednesday, April 28)
Web story on the results of a Killer CME
on January 7, 1997.
Summarize your results on your webpage.
5. CHOOSE ONE:
A. A nine-day summary of
the current Space Weather - Solar Wind
Learn
about the Solar wind
Read:
What
is the solar wind and where does it come from?
Take the
Solar
Wind Quiz
On your webpage, Show the position
of the WIND satellite for 5 days.
Show
6 days of Solar wind data
Include three 3-day Solar-Geophysical
Forecasts (nine days)
B. More Space Weather - Earth's
auroral activity
Learn
more about Auroral activity
University of
Alaska's Aurora page
Gather
9 days of VIS: daily
aurora activity.
News!
"Coastline hugging auroras!"
More daily aurora info and movies
Observe
the classroom
magnetometer, record data daily, and write an analysis
Write
an analysis of the data.
6. Creative writing - an open ended topic
on the Sun and Earth
Read Sun
on Earth
Create
a Sun on Earth topic of your own with a poem, a drawing, a report -
Include
at least one web link.
Drafts of your web notebooks
are due Friday, May 7, 1999.
(11 days)
|
May 10 - 14
Continue work and revisions on your Sun web notebooks.
May 11
Block 2/3 Video Conferencing activities
May 12
Construction of a classroom
magnetometer.
May 17
Science Fiction short story
May
17 The Wind from the Sun by Arthur
C. Clarke
This picture shows the cover of Boys Life Magazine, March 1968,
showing illustrations from The Wind from theSun.
Links related to The Wind from the Sun
Woomera: Australian/English
Glossary
Woomera Missle Range, Australia
Lebedev:
Who was Lebedev?
P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute,
Moscow, Russia
Joshua Slocum: Captain
Joshua Slocum
The
Maltese Cross
Arachne: The
Archnology Home Page
Gossamer: Gossamer
Albatross picture