Click on Wednesday's link (in the top gray menu) to Learn About the Active Sun page and read it.
 

• The detection of __________________ destroyed the Greek belief that the Sun was unblemished.
   
• When does the solar cycle have a peak of activity? ____________________________
   
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Solar Flares in the left-hand margin.
   
• Read"Solar Flares" and answer the questions below.
   
• What is it called when a small region of the Sun erupts? _______________________
  
  Why do these eruptions occur? _____________________________________________________
   
• What year was the first solar flare ever recorded? __________________________
   
• The energy released in a solar flare is _____________________ times greater than the energy released from a volcanic explosion, but it is less than ____________________ of the total energy emitted by the Sun every second.
   
• Radiation from solar flares travels to Earth in ______________ minutes. Name one thing that can result from this radiation.
   
• How hot can the corona increase to during a solar flare? _____________________________________


 

Return to Wednesday Learn About the Active Sun.

Scroll down and click on Coronal Mass Ejections.
 

• What is the abbreviation for a coronal mass ejection? ________________________
   
• How fast can a coronal mass ejection travel? ______________________
   
• To observe a coronal mass ejection, scientists use an instrument called a ________________________. This instrument simulates a _______________________.
   
• Ionized gas can also be called _____________________.
   
• Coronal mass ejections can occur a few times a week or several times a day. What protects the Earth from the harmful effects of a coronal mass ejection?
  
  _____________________________________
   
• When energetic particles from coronal mass ejections get through to the north or south pole, an ____________________ is created.
   
• Go down the page and on the left-hand side find the movie called, "An erupting prominence observed in the Helium 304 channel".
   
• Describe what you see in the movie. _________________________________________________________________________
   

Return to Wednesday Learn About the Active Sun.