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 “SunSpots.mp4” 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.