2.Sunspot Tracking
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Grade Level: 

7-12

Overview: 

Students will learn about various characteristics of our sun and other stars as they research ways we image the sun, observe sunspots and track their movement.

Purpose:

The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with the sun, our nearest star, and to investigate various characteristics of stars, which include sunspots and differential rotation.

Objectives:

 Students will:

  1.  Identify sunspots.

  2. Track sunspot movement by graphing

  3. Calculate the rotational rate of various latitudes of the Sun

  4. Investigate various ways we gather information about our Sun

 Curriculum Standards:

ESS-M-C1    ESS-H-D3

Materials:

  • Plato telescope

  • Tripod with mounted cork board

  • Medium binder clips

  • 1 copy of the graphing worksheet per student

  • Transparency copy of the solar graph

 

Procedure:

DAY 1:

  1. Have students answer the question, “What is a sunspot?”
  2. Allow students to present their ideas to the class and collect information on the board.
  3. Have students observe the sun by projecting an image through your PLATO telescope.  (Follow steps below) WARNING:  DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN.  You will severely burn your retina.  You will not be able to sense pain, but damage will be occurring!
    1. Position the telescope so the eyepiece points downward.
    2. Aim it so that sunlight enters the objective lens, exits the eyepiece and the image lands on the mounted corkboard creating a round circular image of the sun. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE EYEPIECE AT THE SUN!!
    3. Clip a sheet of white paper onto the corkboard.
    4. Focus the image of the sun on the white paper so that the edge of the sun looks sharp.
    5. Have each student draw a rough sketch of the outline of the sun as well as all visible sunspots.  Have students write down the date and time they were viewed and save these drawings for tomorrow’s lesson. (Use Worksheet 1 – Drawing sunspots)
    6. ALTERNATIVE:  If you do not have a PLATO telescope, you can do the same activity by using a pair of binoculars mounted on a tripod.  If these are also unavailable, you can access and print images of the sun at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov . 
  4. Use the Highland Road Park Observatory Telescope to observe these same sunspots in better detail.  Have students answer the following questions:
    1. Describe the sunspots you see in detail.  (How many, what do they look like, etc)
    2. Why do you think sunspots have darker centers and lighter edges?
    3. What would you expect to see if we did this experiment again at the same time for the next 3 days?
  5. Explain to students that scientists use a variety of methods to research the sun and gather information about it.  Various techniques are used to obtain different views of the sun.  These include taking visible light images, ultraviolet images, X-ray images, radio wave images and H-Alpha images.  Each of these techniques has it’s own unique advantages. 
  6. Have students work in groups to research each type of image on the Internet. 

Give them the following websites to explore:  www.spacescience.org    www.solarviews.com   

  1. Upon completion students should present to the class the following information:
    1. An example of a picture of the sun taken by their assigned method.
    2. An explanation of how their particular picture is taken.
    3. One benefit of using their method to view the sun.
  2. As students present their information to the class, check their accuracy using the Teachers Guide 1 - Sun Images. 
  3. Have students create their own Sun Images table as they listen to the information being presented to the class.

 

DAY 2 

  1.  Repeat step 3 from Day One (You may need to wait at least 2 days to repeat this step and see noticeable sunspot movement) Allow students to plot the new position of the sunspots on the same white sheet of paper that was used the day before.  Have them use a different color and create a key that is labeled with the correct date and time the sunspots were recorded.
  2. Upon returning to the classroom divide students into small groups or pairs and provide each student group with 2 days of solar images obtained from the website:  http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov .  Go to the Data link, latest images, select a date and print a Intensitygram full disk image.  Before printing you may want to change the print to grayscale and create a negative image in order to save ink.  
  3. Provide each student group with a transparent copy of the Worksheet 2 - Solar Grid that is the same size as the Intensitygram Images and two different colored transparency markers.  (You will need to resize this worksheet beforehand.)
  4. Have each student complete the following steps:
    1. Lay the transparent solar grid over the day 1 sun image and mark all visible sunspots. 
    2. Repeat this for day 2 and use a different colored transparency marker.
    3. Pass out Worksheet 3 - Sunspot Tracking to students.

(If you would like to have students calculate the angular movement of the sunspots using basic trigonometry see the Worksheet 4 – HS extension.)

  1. Students should now be able to transfer the position of the sunspots from their transparency onto their Sunspot Tracking worksheet.
  2. Discuss with students why the sunspots they observed with the telescope and the sunspots they see on the intensitygram do not move in the same direction.  (The two pictures are actually mirror images of each other.) 
  3. Have students complete the Sunspot Tracking worksheet.
  4. Use the Teacher’s Guide 2 -  Sunspot guide to provide content information to students and to check their worksheets.

Extensions: 

  1. In the computer lab have students take a Virtual tour of the Sun at www.astro.uva.nl/demo/sun/kraft.htm.

    • Have them complete Worksheet 5 – Virtual Tour as they work.

    • You can check their answers using Teacher’s Guide 3 – Tour Guide.

  2. Before or after the Sunspot lessons have students work in groups to create a color diagram of the sun, which includes the following:  Core, radiative zone, convective zone, chromosphere, photosphere, corona, sunspot, and prominence.  Have each group research one feature and report to the class about it.