Magnetic Fields and the Sun RWLO

Magnetic Fields and the Sun

So It’s The Sun, Who Cares?

By Michael Dorneman
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Mercer County Community College
Trenton, NJ.

Project Overview

Students will print Solar Magnetograms and images of the Sun in the electromagnetic spectrum (visible or otherwise), compare the images, draw conclusions about the effects of the Sun’s Magnetic Field, determine if their conclusions are correct, and discover the need to study and watch the Sun.

A Student Worksheet is included in the RWLO, or the instructor may have the students write a more formal laboratory report. Both are described in this document.

Student Learning Objectives

For this RWLO, the student will be able to:

Use a solar magnetogram to envision portions of the Sun's magnetic field.
Hypothesize about the effects of the Sun's magnetic field.
Use other solar images to confirm the hypothesis
Explain the impact of Solar Prominences, (also called solar flares and coronal mass ejections).

Procedure

Time:Worksheet – Approximately 50 minutes
Formal Laboratory Write-Up – Approximately 1 ½ hours

Materials: Online access, printer (B&W is adequate), cheap white printer paper,
Student Worksheets and Directions if desired

Prerequisites:An understanding of magnetic fields and the relationship between moving charges and magnetic fields, the transmission of heat by convection, the nature of the sub-atomic particles normally discussed as comprising matter, and the nature of the Sun.

Implementation: This RWLO can be used in the classroom, as an out of class activity, or can be started in the classroom and completed out of class.

This writer uses this activity to review and knit together the concepts of magnetism, states of matter, temperature, and the Solar System. Alternatively, this activity could be used to introduce and cover these concepts.

The instructor should familiarize him or herself with the SOHO web site, and practice printing appropriate images. He or she should also print copies of Student Directions and Worksheets prior to class.

There are two sets of Student Directions. The first is for use with a Worksheet on which the students will write answers to questions about this activity. The second set of Student Directions has the students write their results in a laboratory write-up format. That format is briefly discussed in the Student Directions.

The instructor should check all links well prior to class to ensure that all links are operable and that the web pages have not been revised.

Steps:

Review relevant topics
Distribute handouts, discuss student procedure, and teach online procedures if necessary.
Discuss formal write-up and grading. Give students some guidance as to what is expected if they are asked to do their own write up.

4.Start the activity or assign as homework.

Note: The MDI pictures labeled “Continuum” are visible images, shaded a bit orange to emphasize differences.

Content Material

Student Directions: Worksheet Version

So It’s The Sun, Who Cares?

By Michael Dorneman Associate Professor of Chemistry Mercer Co. Com. College Trenton, NJ.

The Sun, at the center of our Solar System, is often depicted as a huge, homogenous, yellow ball. Is this really the case? SOHO at NASA is responsible for studying our Sun, and provides for public, non-profit use of images and data collected. In this exercise the student will learn about some of the various images generated by the SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope and The EIT Consortium, investigate the nature of the Sun, discover the relationship between various solar images, and learn why it is important for our modern society to observe and try to understand the Sun.

You should review the composition of the Sun, its gravitational field, the source of the energy it provides, and other aspects by going to and from the menu bar click on Classroom. Several other very useful resources are listed at the end of this handout.

Recall that the Sun is composed of plasma, a very hot, electrically charged material composed of the sub-atomic particles that make up atoms. The energy radiated by the sun is produced primarily within the interior of the Sun through fusion. The energy moves from the interior of the Sun to the outside through convection currents. As the plasma moves, the moving charges cause magnetic fields of tremendous power. Magnetograms image the magnetic fields of the Sun.

Is the Sun just a giant yellow ball? What shape or direction do the magnetic fields have? What affect do they have on the Sun? Why do we care about what happens on the Sun?

Procedure:

Go to the SOHO website, look at, learn about, and print a recent Solar Magnetogram. To do this:

Go to the web site is
Then click on the picture under THE SUN NOW

Find out more about these images. Start by clicking the link About these images under the page title. Then browse around that web site for more explanations. You will find it very useful to look at “Space Weather” and “Images of Today's Sun” by the Stanford Solar Observatories Group.
Print a Solar Magnetogram. Go Back to the web page “The very latest SOHO images,” find a magnetogram and print it. Note the date and time that the image was taken.
Answer questions 1 and 2 on the Worksheet.
Print at least one image of the Sun in any part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum, taken at the same time as the magnetogram. Be certain to note specifically the wavelength and part of the electromagnetic spectrum being imaged, as well as the date and time of the image. (Notice that the MDI pictures labeled “Continuum” are visible light images.) Be certain that your images are the same size.
Compare the two (or more images) by laying them atop one another, so they are aligned. You should be able to look through the pages and see both images superimposed. Hold them up to the light if necessary. Note any similarities or differences. Be certain that your images are the same size.
Answer questions 3 - 5 on the Worksheet.

Additional resources are available at these sites:

Who Cares? Go to “A Primer on Space Weather”
“Magnetic Fields” (and the Sun)
“Active Region Monitor”
“Slide show of latest photos”,Images that are superimposed!!

Worksheet Magnetic Fields and the Sun

Name:______Course:_____ Ref. Number:___

Look at a solar magnetogram. What does a magnetogram show?

What do the magnetogram colors represent?

Hypothesize about the effect the Sun’s magnetic field has on the Sun.

After comparing the magnetogram to the visible spectrum image, record any similarities or differences.

Describe the meaning and impact of the similarities.

Why do we care what happens on the Sun? (What affect could this have on our society?)

Attach your magnetogram and other image(s) behind this page, and turn in this exercise before you leave.

Student Directions: Lab Write Up Version

So It’s The Sun, Who Cares?

By Michael Dorneman, Associate Professor of Chemistry Mercer Co. Com. College Trenton, NJ.

The Sun, at the center of our Solar System, is often depicted as a huge, homogenous, yellow ball. Is this really the case? SOHO at NASA is responsible for studying our Sun, and provides for public, non-profit use of images and data collected. In this exercise the student will learn about some of the various images generated by the “SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope and The EIT Consortium,” investigate the nature of the Sun, discover the relationship between various solar images, and learn why it is important for our modern society to observe and try to understand the Sun.

Review the composition of the Sun, its gravitational field, the source of the energy it provides, and other aspects by going to and from the menu bar click on Classroom.

Is the Sun just a giant yellow ball? What shape or direction do the magnetic fields have? What affect do they have on the Sun? Why do we care about what happens on the Sun?

Procedure:

Go to the SOHO website, look at, learn about, and print a recent Solar Magnetogram. To do this:

Go to the web site is
Then click THE SUN NOW. The page you reached will be titled “The very latest SOHO images.”

Find out more about the images. Start by accessing the link About these images under the title. Then browse around the web site for more explanations. The student will find it very useful to look at and read “Space Weather” and “Images of Today's Sun” by the Stanford Solar Observatories Group. (Notice that the MDI pictures labeled “Continuum” are visible light images.)

Print a recent solar magnetogram.
Note the date and time that the image was taken.
Print at least one image of the Sun in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum that was taken at the same time as the magnetogram. Be certain to note specifically the wavelength and part of the electromagnetic spectrum being imaged, as well as the date and time of the image. Be certain that this images is the same size as the magnetogram.
Compare the two (or more images) by laying them atop one another, so they are aligned, and look through the page to see both images superimposed. You may need to hold them up to the light. Be certain that the images are the same size. Note any similarities or differences.

Write a two page laboratory report (if typed, one page, use 12 point font and use 1.5 line spacing) in the form described earlier in the semester. Your Purpose or Hypothesis must be about the effect of the Sun’s magnetic field. Be certain that you answer the questions posed in the Introduction, as part of your Results or Conclusions. Those questions were:
Is the Sun just a giant yellow ball? What shape or direction do are the magnetic fields of the Sun? What effect do these magnetic fields have on the Sun? Why do we care about what happens on the Sun?

Laboratory Write-Up – Review

1. First Line – Title, Your Name, Your Class, Your Lab Ref. Number

2. Purpose or Hypothesis

3. Theory or Introduction

4. Procedure – What you did. Include a listing of all websites visited and a listing of printed images and those images properties (instrument, wavelengths, dates, and other information).

5. Observations or Data – For this assignment, this would be the printed images, appropriately labeled.

6. Results – For this experiment, note any similarities and differences, and then briefly discuss your images in light of your hypothesis, the meaning of your magnetogram, and the other image(s) of the Sun that you printed.

7. Conclusions – Discuss the original purpose or hypothesis with respect to experimental data and results. Was the hypothesis verified or not? What relations exist? Why do we care about what happens on the Sun? What do the SOHO observations and your results have to do with society as we know it?

Referenced URLs:

The SOHO website is: There are answers to many questions and a review of some concepts under RESOURCES, select Classroom
For the latest images, go to then clickTHE SUN NOW. The page should be titled “The very latest SOHO images”
To review the composition of the Sun, its gravitational field, the source of the energy it provides, the answers to most of the questions, and other aspects go to and click on Classroom.
Review about magnetograms:
This is a glossary of terms used on the SOHO Web site:
The SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope is called EIT.
The EIT Consortium is:
The MDI pictures labeled “Continuum” are visible images, shaded a bit orange to emphasize differences.

Additional resources are available at these sites:

A Primer on Space Weather
Magnetic Fields (and the Sun)
“Active Region Monitor”
“Slide show of latest photos”,Images superimposed!!

Assessment

Assessment 1 – Worksheet

This activity is graded out of 5 points. Each question will be graded for literacy, completeness, and correctness. ½ point deducted for each (literacy, completeness, and correctness) to a total of one point for each question on the worksheet. Up to one point will be deducted if any identifying information (name, class, ref. number) is left out or is incorrect. NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF IMAGES ARE NOT TURNED IN WITH THE WORKSHEET. NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF IMAGES DO NOT INCLUDE REQUIRED INFORMATION. NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF TURNED IN LATE.

Assessment 2 – Lab Write Up Version - 5 points

This activity is graded out of 5 points.

1. First Line – Title, Your Name, Your Class, Lab Reference Number / ½ point
2. Purpose or Hypothesis - / ½ point
3. Theory or Introduction / ½ point
4. Procedure – Include a listing of all websites visited and a listing of printed images and those images properties (instrument, wavelengths, dates, and other information). / ½ point
5. Observations or Data – For this assignment, this would be the printed images / ½ point
6. Results – For this experiment, a discussion of the images in light of your hypothesis, the meaning of your magnetogram and the electromagnetic images of the Sun. Note any similarities and differences. / ½ point
7. Conclusions – Discuss the original purpose or hypothesis with respect to experimental data and results. What relations exist? Was the hypothesis verified or not? What does the SOHO observations and you results have to do with the course and the world in general? / 2 points

Full points are awarded only if complete and correct. ½ point will be deducted for each part missing, incomplete, or incorrect up to the point total indicated for each part. Full points for Conclusions will be awarded only if complete and correct. Minus ½ point for each question not answered or answered incorrectly, minus ½ point for each part missing, up to the point total indicated.

NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF PRINTED IMAGES ARE NOT INCLUDED WITH THE REPORT. NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF IMAGES DO NOT INCLUDE THE REQUIRED INFORMATION. NO POINTS WILL BE AWARDED IF TURNED IN LATE.

Links to Course Competencies

This RWLO could be applied in the following courses: Physical Science Concepts, any General Astronomy course, and others. Specifically, this RWLO addresses the following course ojectives: describe magnetic fields and the relationship between moving charges and magnetic fields, given the path of the moving charges describe the shape of the magnetic field, explain the transmission of heat by convection, describe the nature of the three sub-atomic particles normally discussed as comprising matter, describe the results of fusion in our Sun

Specifically, for PHY111 Unit IV #4, 10, 13;Unit VII #6a; Unit IX #11; Unit X #5e, 10, 11.

Supplementary Resources

The SOHO website is: There are answers to many questions and a review of some concepts, select Classroom from the menu bar.
For the latest images, go to and then click,THE SUN NOW. The page should be titled “The very latest SOHO images”
To review the composition of the Sun, its gravitational field, the source of the energy it provides, the answers to most of the questions, and other aspects go to and from the menu bar click on Classroom.
Review about magnetograms:
The SOHO Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope is called EIT.
The EIT Consortium is:
The MDI pictures labeled “Continuum” are visible images, shaded a bit orange to emphasize differences.
A Primer on Space Weather
Magnetic Fields (and the Sun)
“Active Region Monitor”
“Slide show of latest photos”,Images superimposed!!

Recommendations

Recommendations for Integration:

Use after discussing magnetism, sub-atomic particles, fusion, and plasma, as a way to demonstrate the general relations between the many concepts and disciplines of science.

Use as a opening activity for discussing any of the above concepts.

Use with a unit on Astronomy or The Solar System.

Back-up:

Download several images of all types for students to compare. You may post them on your own web site, or print them and freely distribute them for your students. NASA, SOHO, and ESA materials are free from copyright restrictions for use by educators, although educators are asked to include an attribution. At there is the following:

“Notice: The use of SOHO images or data for public education efforts and non-commercial purposes is strongly encouraged and requires no expressed authorization. It is requested, however, that any such use properly attributes the source of the images or data as:

"Courtesy of SOHO/[instrument] consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA."

Where [instrument] stands for the name of the instrument that acquired the data (i.e. SOHO/EIT, SOHO/LASCO, etc).

Another, shorter, version of the notice:

is "SOHO (ESA & NASA)"