Solar Rotation Activity

Solar Rotation Activity Name: Your Name Here

The rotation of the sun is determined by observing features on its surface, such as sunspots. It is observed that the sun rotates as a fluid object, rotating faster at the equator than at the poles. In this activity, you will track the motion of sunspots for a number of days and draw conclusions about the rotation of the sun.

 Watch the movie “spotexrS.mov” and choose which of the sunspots you would like to follow. Any one will do, but some are easier to track than others.

 Describe the changes that you see for the duration of the movie.

Type your response here.

 Estimate the longitudinal position of your sunspot for each of the days of the movie and record them in the table below:

Date Longitude (deg) Date Longitude (deg) June 22 # June 27 # June 23 # June 28 # June 24 # June 29 # June 25 # June 30 # June 26 # July 1 #

 What is the total number of days for this sunspot observation? Answer

 What is the total longitudinal displacement (in degrees) of your sunspot during this interval? Answer

 Since you now know how many days it takes for your sunspot to travel a certain number of degrees, how many days would it take for your sunspot to travel 360 degrees (one full revolution)? Answer

 Comment on the correctness of your result based on some research. How is your result affected by the rotation of the earth?

Type your response here.