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SOLAR
Center Highlights
Welcome!
Here's a quick overview of our featured pages. To begin, select
an area of the site from the links below. Please let us know if
you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, so we can improve
your visit here.
About
the Sun • Activities
• Solar Art
• Solar Folklore
   
About the Sun Featured Pages
News
About the Sun
|
Includes
information from NASA featuring information about solar flares,
solar wind, and recent developments. |
| The
Sun on Earth |
Have
you ever wondered about how rainbows work, what causes the aurora,
why the setting sun is red, and why we sometimes see a halo
around the Sun? If you need a research topic, or are just curious
about how things work, there are lots of questions to explore
here. |
| Watch
the Sun Move |
The
Sun's oscillations are far too tiny to be seen with the naked
eye, but sensitive instruments on the SOHO spacecraft can detect
the movements and translate them into something we can see.
This page features videos of sun-striking comets & coronal
mass ejections. |
| Exploring
the Sun |
This
page features links that provide many different resources. Here
you can take virtual tours of the sun, look at solar imagery,
and learn about the sun and its layers. |
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Activities
Featured Pages
| Scavenger
Hunt |
Want
to earn a magnificent solar poster, and have your name and school
enscribed on the web? Complete our Scavenger Hunt, and we'll
do just that! |
| Take
the Galileo Challenge |
Galileo
was one of the first and most important observers of the Sun.
Why do you think these observations were important to Galileo
and to the people of his time? Imagine you are Galileo and test
your knowledge. |
| Build
Your Own Spectroscope |
Build
and learn how to use your own working spectroscope. Find out
what spectroscopic data can tell astronomers about the Sun,
planets, stars, and other objects far away. |
| Observe
the Sun Yourself |
This
page shows several ways in which you can observe the sun yourself.
Make your own pinhole camera, use a sunspotter telescope, or
use a remote telescope via the web! |
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Solar Art
Featured Pages
| Images
by Artists |
Features
art from solar data, paintings, and art submitted to the SOLAR
center inspired by the sun. |
| Photographs
of Analemmas |
A
combination of the Earth's 23.5 degree tilt and its slightly
elliptical orbit combine to generate a figure "8"
pattern of where the Sun would appear at the same time throughout
the year. The pattern is called an analemma. |
| Scientific
Images |
Includes
a visual simulation of solar convection, SOHO's halo orbit,
power spectra, and many other examples of scientific images
that can be viewed as art. |
| The
Sun in Music |
Here
you can listen to the sounds of the sun and space and learn
about sonification, or how data can be turned into sounds. |
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Solar Folklore Featured Pages
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For
centuries, humans have attempted to explain the Sun in terms
of their own worldviews. These myths, legends and accounts represent
their culture's worldview, a peoples' attempt to explain, understand,
and come to grips with nature's phenomena. |
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Here
you can learn about ancient astronomical sites around the world,
featuring the Bighorn Medicine Wheel- a Native American pointer
to sun and stars. Medicine wheels are an intricate part of their
spirituality and connection to the Earth and sky. |
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Ancient
cultures certainly observed the celestial bodies. But because
so few of them left any written records, it is difficult to
imagine how they interpreted the skies. A few examples remain
of imagery, usually left in rock which may refer to the Sun.
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