Astronomy A: Unit 3 - Lesson 3-4

1- A strong magnetic field is recorded. 2- A plage appears. 3- A relatively small, dark area in a plage appears. 4- The dark area grows into a sunspot, followed by a second sunspot of opposite polarity. 5- The spots grow and more may form. 6- The spots and then the plage merge back into the normal, grainy top of the photosphere. 7- The magnetic field fades and all the traces of any disturbance disappears entirely.

- 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

The average figure for solar rotation is _____ days.

27.28

The photosphere consists of columns of hot gases rising from lower depths, with each column top being _____ to _____ kilometers across.

300, 1,000

_____ twists the material of the photosphere deep below the surface.

Differential rotation

_____ discovered that sunspots, which occur in pairs, have opposite magnetic polarities.

George Hale

Galileo Galilei discussed sunspots in 1610.

True

Heinrich Schwabe introduced the sunspot cycle in 1843.

True

Richard Carrington discovered that sunspots originate in certain latitudes.

True

Richard Carrington discovered the differential rotation of the Sun.

True

What is the latitude of sunspot origin?

between 30 and 35 degrees of latitude

Solar turbulence is produced by a process called _____, in which water is heated, rises to the surface, spreads out, cools, and sinks again.

convection

Sunspots appear as a result of _____ pushing up from the bottom.

energy

As the sunspot cycle progresses, the latitude of sunspot origin gradually moves toward the _____ from both north and south.

equator

Differential rotation is an unequal rotation in which material closer to the Sun's equator spins _____ than material farther away.

faster

Plasma is the _____ state of matter in which atoms are torn apart and exist as free electrons, atom nuclei, protons, and neutrons.

fourth

During the sunspot cycle, the number of sunspots that appear gradually _____, then begins to decline toward the end of the cycle.

increases

The Sun has a twenty-two year _____ cycle.

magnetic

A flow of free electrons is an electric current, which generates its own _____.

magnetic field

Granules last for about eight _____, while sunspots can last for a(n) _____.

minutes, month

The _____ is the Sun's glowing disk, or "light globe."

photosphere

The Sun is composed of gas and is _____, meaning it shines by its own light.

self-luminous

1- being in a state of strong agitation 2- a backward-circling current to the normal flow 3- a flowing or movement 4- the condition in a single body where properties differ from one end of that body as opposed to the other 5- "grains" on the column tops of the photosphere that show the Sun to be turbulent 6- a magnetic tunnel that forms beneath the photosphere when nearby magnetic field lines suddenly join together 7- intense ultraviolet and x-ray radiation with high-speed electrons and other nuclear particles that escape solar gravity 8- a spot of intensely glowing atoms 9- shows the magnetic nature of sunspots

1- turbulent 2- eddy 3- flux 4- polarity 5- granules 6- flux tube 7- solar wind 8- plage 9- Zeeman effect

Modern observations have established that the sunspot cycle takes _____ years to complete.

11