Purpose

• The objective of the lesson is to ****

Procedure

• Let's view today's Sun and take data.
• Do the sunspots move?
• Do sunspots have a pattern, a cycle?
• Sunspot races -- place your bets!
• Are the sunspots really on the Sun?
• How can you (safely) observe the Sun yourself?
• What does the Sun look like in other wavelengths?

Materials and Set-Up

• Sunspot data recording sheet (provided)
• Latitude/longitude grid (various sizes) plus planet sizes (provided)
• Sunspot cycle graph [this will be a hot-button] (provided)
• Sunspot speed graph (provided)
• Metric ruler
• Transparency paper (if available)
• [others?]
• Vocabulary

Assessment

Extensions and Homework Activities

• [We might add some specific activities here]
• For more information about the Sun and helioseismology in general, see Stanford's Wilcox Solar Observatory , [others?]
• To explore solar images in visible, xray, hydrogen-a, and calcium wavelengths, as well as find other information about solar observing, see the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Homepage
• For historical solar data, explore NOAA archives.

Accompanying Data For Teachers

Ties to Science Framework(s)

Related Lessons

• [As these become available, we'll insert hot-links to them, A spectrograph/wavelength lesson might be particularly appropriate.]

Author and Contact Information:

• Jerry Abad jabad@cea.berkeley.edu
• Sherry Johnson sjohnson@cea.berkeley.edu
• Deborah Scherrer deborah@quake.stanford.edu
• Rey Urbach rurbach@cea.berkeley.edu
• Tom Wright twright@cea.berkeley.edu

Email Feedback (Form)

List of Illustrations and Images in this lesson

References