Determining the Rotation Rate of the Sun Using X-Ray Movies?
View the video, An X-Ray Look at the Sun several times before completing the following questions.
In the movie, the left-hand side of the Sun is moving towards you and the right-hand side is moving away from you. If you were above the rotating Sun looking down, the Sun would be moving in a sense.
Using a stopwatch or a wristwatch that indicates seconds, determine the length of time the entire movie takes and record the number of seconds. This is equivalent to 22 days in real-time.
At the beginning of the movie, there is a large active region at the center of the left-hand edge. Using a stopwatch or a wristwatch that indicates seconds, determine how long it takes for this particular active region to move from one-side of the Sun to the other side. How many seconds did this take?
Determine the actual rotation period of the Sun. (Hint: Divide 22 days by the time it takes for the entire movie, and then multiply that result by the time it takes for the active region to move across the Sun—this is one-half the rotation period of the Sun.
In several sentences, write a description of what happens to the target active region over the course of this time-lapse video.