LAB 03 - The Solar Cycle

LAB 02 - The Solar Cycle

Since the invention of the telescope, astronomers have been counting sunspots. Why?  Well, at first it was an easy thing to see on the surface of the sun and they were easy to count. Quite early on, astronomers begin to get curious about what sunspots were telling them about the sun because the number of sunspots fluctuates over time.  

Today, we know that sunspots are caused by local changes in the sun's magnetic field -- a field that gets all tangled up and untangles itself on a somewhat regular basis and coincides with the number of sunspots you can see. 

Sunspot activity is directly related to the frequency of major solar storms. It is important that we know when these major solar storms are likely to occur because they can cause electrical blackouts, communications outages, and satellite problems here on Earth. This is referred to as Space Weather forecasting. Using historical sunspot activity data in this lab, you will try to find a pattern of activity in the number of sunspots then predict when the next maximum sunspot activity will occur (a.k.a. solar maximum).

Here's an overview of this lab:

In this lab, you are going to figure out the average number of years between sunspot number peaks. This called the solar cycle and astronomers use it as a metric for monitoring the sun's activity.  To complete the lab, you will use the following table: Sunspot Average Yearly Values.pdf

In the table, you will see a list of average sunspot numbers each year from 1912 to 2017.  The sunspot numbers change over time going up and down.  Using the numbers in this table, you need to do the following steps:

• Identify each peak sunspot year.  Follow the pattern and take note when the sunspot number reaches a high value and starts to go back down again.  The highest sunspot number in each cycle is the peak year.
  • For example, the first couple of peak years are 1917 and 1928.
• Next, determine the number of years between each peak.
  • Using our peak years of 1917 and 1928, there was 11 years between the peak years.
•  Finally, determine the average of all the peak year intervals you found. This will give you an average value for the number of years between the peak years (the solar cycle).   

YOU WILL RECORD YOUR ANSWERS BELOW.

Steps:

• ANSWER each question
  • Please Note: You can go in and out of the Worksheet/Quiz and it will automatically save as long as you don't hit submit. There is not a "Save" button. Canvas will save your work when you leave the quiz or navigate away from the page. DO NOT hit submit until the worksheet is complete.
• When you have ALL of your answers ready click the SUBMIT button.
• Once you hit submit your worksheet is complete and will be GRADED