Student Guide to Activity 1: Features of the Sun

Transcription

1 Studnt Guid to Activity 1: Problm: What do th following fatur look lik on photograph of th Sun: unpot, plag, olar flar, prominnc, filamnt, th corona, hlmt tramr, and coronal hol? How do th fatur compar and contrat? Caution: Nvr look dirctly at th Sun. To viw th Sun, projct an imag through a card or ht of notbook papr, pircd with pin izd hol, onto a ht of whit papr. Th Sun invrtd imag will appar on th papr blow. Introduction Our Sun i a middl-agd, mdium izd tar, big nough to hold a million Earth. Th ancint Grk thought that th Sun wa a prfct phr of fir. Today w know that th Sun i a variabl (changabl) tar that produc lif giving light and hat a wll a harmful radiation. It cau pac wathr that can harm atronaut working in pac and can intrfr with atllit orbiting our plant. Surfac and Atmophr: Although th avrag ditanc from Earth to th Sun i a whopping 149,600,000 kilomtr (93,000,000 mil), carful obrvation from Earth rval a urpriingly larg numbr of diffrnt viibl fatur. Th mot obviou and bt known fatur i th unpot. Typically moving in group, th dark (in viibl light), plant-izd fatur hav bn known to humankind for cnturi. A unpot form and diappar ovr priod of day or wk, thy alo appar to mov acro th Sun urfac. Compod of trong magntic fild, unpot ar hapd much lik a horho magnt that ri from blow th Sun urfac. Mor accuratly, howvr, flxibl magntic tub, or flux tub, probably giv ri to th magntic fild that w. Th riing hot ga i trappd by th unpot intn magntic fild which cool th unpot from 6000 ½C to about 4200 ½C. Th cool ara appar dark compard to th ara around it. 1 Studnt Guid, Activity 1: N S S N N S

2 Thu, from Earth, w pot on th Sun. In om photograph, w can alo light colord ara around group of unpot that rmbl tuft of cotton candy. W call th fluffy looking fring plag. ar th ourc of maiv rla of nrgy calld olar flar, th mot violnt vnt in th olar ytm. In a mattr of minut to vral hour, a olar flar rla about 10,000 tim th annual nrgy conumption of th U.S. Solar flar giv off radiation that includ X-ray, ultraviolt ray, and chargd particl calld proton and lctron. Thi uddn urg in radiation can damag paccraft and vn giv a do or radiation to travlr flying in airplan ovr th polar rgion. Alo viibl for only minut, ar granulation in th Sun photophr. ar riing and falling column of hot ga that look lik fluffy marhmallow arrangd in a honycomb pattrn. Th top of th granul form th Sun urfac. Although w rfr to th Sun urfac a th photophr, you probably know that th Sun ha no olid urfac, unlik Earth. It i an unvn phr of glowing, hot ga! Th bright ara in th X-ray imag from th Japan Yohkoh atllit ar calld activ rgion, which contain hot, dn ga. Thy ar alo th ourc of th mot intn X-ray mination. Th dark ara ar coronal hol. Courty of th Lockhd Palo Alto Rarch Laboratory and th National Atronomical Obrvatory in Japan. Jut a th Sun diappar bhind th Moon during a total olar clip, a flah of bright rd light appar. Thi colorful layr of th Sun, calld th chromophr, bcom viibl for a brif intant. Although w know littl about th chromophr, thr ar curiou, prmannt fatur of th chromophr, calld picul, that w can tudy in mor dtail. Thr ar o many of th fin, bright, hairlik fatur, that thy ar alway viibl nar th Sun dg, vn though an individual picul lat only minut. Lik unpot, picul ri and fall vrtically abov th Sun urfac. On of th mot pctacular fatur of th Sun ar olar prominnc. Thy appar to tram, loop and arch away from th Sun. Th mot rcognizabl prominnc appar a hug arching column of ga abov th limb (dg) of th Sun. Howvr, whn prominnc ar photographd on th urfac of th Sun, thy appar a long, dark, thradlik objct and ar calld filamnt. Lik unpot, prominnc ar coolr (about 10,000 ½C) in rlation to th much hottr background of th Sun outr atmophr (about 1,500,000 ½C). can alo rupt from th Sun with a trmndou burt of nrgy. 2 Studnt Guid, Activity 1:

3 If you hav n photograph of a olar clip, thn you hav probably noticd a bright halo around th Sun, calld th corona. Somtim part of th corona appar to b miing. Logically, w call thi ara a coronal hol. Scintit bliv that th olar wind, a million mil pr hour gal that blow away from th Sun, originat in coronal hol. Unlik wind on Earth, th olar wind i a tram of ionizd (lctrically chargd) particl pding away from th Sun. Th Sun corona chang with unpot activity. Whn thr ar mor unpot, th corona appar to b hld cloly to th Sun; whn thr ar fwr unpot, th corona tram out into pac in a hap that rmbl th pik on a warlik, pakd hlmt calld hlmt tramr. Whil hlmt tramr ar long-livd, thir dmi oftn occur abruptly through maiv and powrful ruption calld coronal ma jction (CME). Artit concption of a coronal ma jction moving away from th Sun toward Earth. Courty of th Lo Alamo National Laboratory Th hug cloud of hot olar ga and magntic fild ar oftn aociatd with olar flar. Thy can cau magntic torm whn thy hit Earth magntic fild and damag human tchnological ytm in pac and on th ground. For xampl, in 1989, th Qubc provinc in Canada uffrd an lctrical blackout bcau many tranformr wr dtroyd by a larg magntic torm. That on torm caud many million of dollar worth of damag. A powrful olar flar ruptd from th Sun about thr day bfor th tart of th torm at Earth. Evn whn th Sun i not too activ, olar torm can cau problm. A magntic torm on January 11, 1997 wa blamd for th lo of a $270 million dollar AT&T communication atllit. Thi modrat torm wa caud by a coronal ma jction that ruptd from th Sun vn though thr wr no noticabl unpot. 3 Studnt Guid, Activity 1:

4 ACTIVITY 1 STUDENT WORKSHEET Intrior Cor - cntral part of th Sun whr hydrogn fu into hlium to giv off nrgy. Radiation zon - nrgy from th Sun cor travl outward through thi ara. Convction zon - hottr ga ri and fall a thy ar hatd from th radiation zon blow much lik a boiling pot of watr. Procdur: XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX 1. U th following proc to larn th fatur of th Sun. Working in group of thr or four, draw th Sun with a many fatur a you know about, and mak a lit of tho fatur. Writ down th ida and copy th group diagram in th pac blow. Whn your group i don, nd omon to gt th matrial for th activity. 2. In your group, rad th dcription of our Sun ( Surfac and Atmophr ) providd in your Studnt Guid. Compar what you rad to your group pictur. A you rad, locat th boldfac word from th rading that ar on th accompanying chmatic diagram titld Th Sun (Figur 1). 4 Studnt Guid, Activity 1:

5 3. Cut out th accompanying labl that nam th fatur of th Sun (Thr ar mor labl than you nd in ca om gt lot.) Plac labl of th Sun fatur on th photograph in Figur 2 and 3 o that th arrow on th labl point to th nam of th fatur whr it i locatd. You ar to idntify a many diffrnt fatur in th tim allowd, including locating th am fatur on a many diffrnt photograph a poibl. Not: Idntify a fatur only onc pr photograph vn though it may appar in vral diffrnt plac. 4. A a group, on a larg ht of papr, draw and color a ktch for th xtrior fatur of th Sun that wr idntifid on th photo. Th drawing ar to b a ralitic a poibl. Compar th nw drawing to your initial drawing. How many fatur did you know about and how many wr nw? Writ thi information in th pac providd. 5. Pot your group drawing omwhr in your room a dirctd by th tachr. Whn all th drawing ar potd, you will tak a widom walk (without talking, go around th room and viw th othr group drawing). 6. Find omon who wa not in your group to pair up with. Spnd a minut thinking on your own about what you aw in th diagram of th Sun. Thn dicu your obrvation and ida with your partnr. Rcord your ida in th pac providd, along with any qution you might hav about fatur on th Sun. 5 Studnt Guid, Activity 1:

6 7. In th pac providd blow, writ a hort ay that anwr th Problm qution() at th bginning of thi activity. 6 Studnt Guid, Activity 1:

7 Labl for th Sun Fatur Hlmt Stramr Hlmt Stramr Hlmt Stramr Hlmt Stramr l Hol l Hol l Hol l Hol 7 Studnt Guid, Activity 1: