Space Weather Web Lesson

Name______Period______

Space Weather --Web Lesson

http://www.explo rator ium.edu/spaceweather/

Read the info on this home page to answer the following question:

1. What is space weather?

Click on the yellow circle- “Coronal Holes” - to answer the following questions:

2. What are coronal holes?

3. How long does it take for solar wind leaving through coronal holes to reach Earth?

Click on the link to look for current coronal holes using live data from NASA satellites currently in orbit. Answer the following questions.

4. What wavelength of light is shown in this image?

Click on the green circle near the top to get to the “Solar Flares” page.

5. What are solar flares?

6. Solar flares can release as much energy as______.

7. Where do solar flares occur?

Click on the blue circle near the top to get to the “Coronal Mass Ejections” page. 8. What is a coronal mass ejection (CME)?

9. How are solar flares and CMEs similar?

Click on the red circle near the top to get to the “Solar Wind” page.

10. What is solar wind?

11. Why does solar wind seem to take on a pinwheel shape?

12. What do the brighter colors on the solar wind image (on the right) represent?

Click on the next circle near the top to get to the “Magnetosphere” page.

13. What is the magnetosphere?

14. Why is the magnetosphere important?

15. What is the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF)?

Click on the next circle near the top to get to the “Auroras” page. 16. What are auroras?

17. What causes auroras?

18. Why do we usually see auroras at extreme latitudes (closer to the poles)?

Click on the final circle with the satellite image to get to the “space weather and you” page.

19. Describe how space weather can affect each of the following:

a. Satellites and spacecraft

b. Radio communication

c. Electric Power transmission

d. Astronauts and high-altitude travelers Click on “Can we predict space weather?” on the right side of this page.

20. What is the goal for scientists working on space weather models?

21. What is the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM)?