Characteristics of Our Solar System Engage and Explore

Characteristics of Our Solar System

Engage and Explore

• Describe the properties of the sun

• Describe the major features of the Sun's surface, such as flares and sunspots

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Learners can:

• solar flare - A violent explosion on the Sun’s surface.

• solar prominence - Plasma loop flowing between sunspots.

• solar system - The Sun and all of the bodies that orbit it.

• star - A massive sphere of plasma held together by gravity.

• sun spot - Cool, dark area on the Sun’s surface that have lower temperatures than surrounding areas; sunspots usually occur in pairs and come and go on an 11-year cycle.

Vocabulary

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Surface Features

• Cooler, darker areas on the surface of the Sun with intense magnetic activity

​​SunSpots

• Found where loops of the Sun's magnetic field break through the surface and disrupt heat transfer within the sun

• Usually occur in pairs

Open Ended

Why do you think sunspots occur in pairs?

11 YEAR CYCLE

Multiple Choice

Sunspots appear and disappear in a cycle that lasts approximately _____ years.

• 5

• 11

• 22

• 60

• Violent explosions that release huge amounts of energy

• This happens if a loop of the Sun's magnetic field snaps and breaks.

• Strong solar flares can turn into coronal mass ejections (CME)

• Releases streams of highly energetic particles that make up Solar Wind

• Solar Wind can be dangerous due to the radiation that it releases.

• Can knock out power grids, disturb radio, satellite, and cell phone towers.

• Can also cause auroras over the poles.

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​Solar Flares

Multiple Choice

A strong solar flare can lead to ____

• Coronal mass ejections

• Space eruptions

• Sunspots

• None of these

◦Plasma that flows along a loop of the Sun's magnetic field from sunspot to sunspot

◦A glowing arch thousands of kilometers into the Sun's atmosphere.

◦Can last a day to several months

◦Visible during total solar eclipse

Solar Prominence

Multiple Choice

Plasma loops that connect two sunspots are called _____ .

• Solar Prminences

• Solar Wind

• Solar flares

• All of these

Multiple Choice

Why is it important to monitor the Sun's activity?

• to protect spacecrafts and astronauts

• prepare for possible disturbance in communications and electrical grids on Earth

• Both A and B

• Neither A or B

• These spots are cooler and darker than the rest of the Sun's surface and they are marked by intense magnetic activity.

• Solar prominences are the plasma loops that connect two sunspots.

• Solar flares and coronal mass ejections are eruptions of highly energetic particles that can erupt from the Sun's surface and cause problems with power grids and communications on Earth.

• The Sun is an ordinary star. It supports nearly all life on Earth.

• The Sun is at the center of the solar system.

• The Sun makes up almost all of the mass of the solar system.
  Sunspots occur in pairs because each is one side of a loop of the Sun's magnetic field that reaches the Sun's surface.

Conclusion

• October 14

  
  

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