Sun for all

*educational content may be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

Does the Sun Rotate?

The Sun is the nearest star to the Earth. Our planet is, therefore, dependent from this star since its formation. This dependency isn’t just because of the yearly Earth translation movement around the Sun. It is much more than that. The Sun is the Earth’s main source of heat and light, essential to all the life it holds. The phenomena that occur (occurred or will occur) inside the Sun and on its surface cause impact on Earth’s surface. It is not always easy to understand or measure this impact and, in many cases it is equally complex to establish cause-effect relations. It all depends on the phenomenon and its intensity. However, there are confirmed results, which show the Sun-Earth interaction.

The project is based on an asset of over 30000 images of the Sun (spectroheliograms) that are kept at the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra, as result of a work of over 80 years of daily solar observations, started in 1926. Presently all images are digitised images available to the general Public.

You may follow the status of the space climate at Solar Storms, where is also available a record of solar storms from 1859 to 2003.

Therefore, studying the Sun, besides being interesting itself, presents an important tool to understand much of what happens on our Planet’s surface. Specifically, studying the Sun through the analysis of solar activity, which turns out to be the key theme of this particular project and the activities proposed below. The majority of these activities are mainly focused on sunspots.

         • Educational scenario objectives

      - Know that the Sun is the biggest object in the Solar System

      - Know that the Sun rotates around itself

      - know that the Sun has cooler regions in its surface – sunspots

Download the PDF complete version by clicking on the following link: » sun_for_all.pdf

This particular scenario requires installing SalsaJ software.

Information about «Sun for all» is available in English and Portuguese at the Coimbra University website » Sol para todos

This database of solar observation is also available through the following link

The following video by the European Space Agency (ESA) is recomended » The Sun, our local star

Validated by Discover the Cosmos + Sun for All

Last update | 20/06/2013