1) The document summarizes a virtual field trip through the layers of the Sun, including stops in the core, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. 2) Key points covered include that the Sun's core is over 27 million degrees Fahrenheit and produces heat and light through nuclear fusion. Sunspots appear darker on the photosphere. 3) The number of sunspots and solar prominences varies during the approximate 11-year solar maximum and minimum cycle.

1. Virtual Field Trip to the Sun
Earth Science
Mrs. Baker

2. The Sun
Welcome to our colossal tour through the many
sweltering layers of the Sun. I’m sure you will enjoy
the red-hot inferno of a landscape in experiencing this
gigantic beast. So… 10, 9, 8…2, 1BLAST OFF!

3. Here is our Space Shuttle

4. Up,
up
and
awa

5. Here is our Space Shuttle
Off to our nearest star . . . the
Sun! The Sun is only 93 million
miles away.

6. Bye Earth! We will be
back soon.

7. Through our journey you will be able to view
the many sights and sounds of our sun.
Please refer to your inflight television for
updated information of each of our stops
along our way.

8. We have reached the sun!
Wow…the Sun sure does make a
lot of noise
Click on image below to hear our suns magnificent
sounds

9. Can you feel the blazing heat? The Sun is
about 4.5 million degrees Fahrenheit.
Click on image below

10. Now lets take a closer blistery look. We will
descending into the ferocious core. The
temperature of the Sun’s core is 27 million
degrees.
Now that is HOT!

11. The Sun’s core produces heat and
light through nuclear fusion
Click on image below for a full explanation

12. Activity 1
Using the video from the previous slide,
explain nuclear fusion in one to two
sentences.
(Click the image if you need to view another explanation on nuclear
fusion)

13. Now we will be
heading back to the
surface to study the
photosphere.
Look at your inflight
television screens.
The photosphere is
the layer of the sun
we see from Earth.

14. The Photosphere is also know as the “light
sphere.” On this layer is we can find sunspots. It is
hard to see them from here, let us move a little
closer to take a better look!

15. Perfect, we can see them very
easily now!
These two pictures of the Sun show how the number of sunspots changes. The picture
on the left was taken near solar maximum in March 2001. It shows many sunspots. The
picture on the right was taken near solar minimum in January 2005. It doesn't have any
sunspots at all! An average sunspot cycle lasts for eleven years.
Activity 2: So are we in solar maximum in 2013 or solar
minimum?
Click on the image to find out.

16. Sunspots are dark cooler areas located on the photosphere.
Even though sunspots are cooler they are still 7,800 degrees
Fahrenheit – OUCH!
The number of sunspots increases or decreases depending if
we are in solar maximum or solar minimum.
Click on image below to find out more about
sunspots

17. Solar Maximum
Solar minimum refers to a period of several Earth years when the
number of sunspots is lowest; solar maximum occurs in the years
when sunspots are most numerous. During solar maximum, activity on
the Sun and the effects of space weather on our terrestrial
environment are high. At solar minimum, the sun may go many days
with no sunspots visible. At maximum, there may be several hundred
sunspots on any day.
Learn more about solar maximum, which is believed to be the
strongest solar activity we have seen
in modern times.
Solar Max Article

18. Activity 3
During what year will we be entering into
solar minimum?

19. Watch out!!!

20. What is that large loop of gas?
• A solar prominence is a loop of gas that
connects sunspots.
• There are more solar prominences during
solar maximum than during solar
minimum.
– True
– False

21. Try again

22. There are more solar prominences because
there are more sunspots. Click on the image
below to experience a solar prominence
caught on video.
Right!!!

23. We are off the next blistery
layer!
The chromosphere or “the color sphere” is
the layer that gives us the beautiful reddish
color we see everyday on Earth.

24. The chromosphere lies just outside the photosphere. On the
picture below, the chromosphere can be seen as a red glow just
around the Sun.
Activity 4: Do all stars produce the same reddish glow?
Click on the image below to find out.

25. What is going on?!?
We must have just reached the corona!
The corona has been found to emit x-ray
radiation.

26. The corona or “the crown” reaches a
sweltering one million degrees! Because the
corona is so thin, you can only see it during a
solar eclipse, when the glare of the Sun itself
(its photosphere) is blocked by the moon.
Activity 5: Why is the corona referred to as “the
crown?”

27. What is a solar eclipse? Do we have them
in New Jersey?
Activity 6: During a solar eclipse, what object is blocking the
light from the sun to earth?
Click on the image and encounter a solar eclipse.

28. Solar Eclipses are really amazing, want
to find out more?
Watch closely there are questions you will need to
answer based on the video

29. Activity 7
So why does a solar eclipse not happen
every month?
Need some help? Click on my image to refer back to the
video clip

30. Activity 8
If a solar eclipse is seen in Paris, France will
we be able to see that same solar eclipse in
Leonia, New Jersey?
Need some help? Click on my image to refer back to the
video clip

31. Well…it is time to head back home now.
Click on the image below to watch us
return safely to earth.
Click on the image to see a live feed from Cape Canaveral as
we descent back to Earth.