3) The possibility of ice on the Moon has received considerable attention in the scientific community. Using a search engine such as Google and/or Scirus, research “lunar ice” and prepare a short news article describing the implication(s) of such a discovery. (HINT: News article, at the very minimum, should include a description of lunar ice, how it was found, and what are the implications of such discovery.)
4) Complete this Measuring Solar Activity online laboratory presented by the Montana State University Solar
Physics Group. When you have finished the investigation, write a short description of your experience and answer the following questions.
a) From the graphs presented in Part Three, describe the pattern of sunspot activity that has taken place over
the past 250 years. (HINT: Answer should include numerical sunspot data.)
b) Is there a relationship between large active X-ray regions and sunspots on the Sun? Explain.
5) Use the information at NASA’s SOHO Website and Peter Meadow’s Solar Observing site to answer the following questions.
a) After you examine the sunspots image at the SOHO site, prepare a brief news release describing the current activity. NOTE: Copy and paste the sunspot image into this response form. (HINT: News release should include, at a minimum, the number of sunspots along with their name(s) and location(s).)
b) Review the information on the sunspot cycle via the links at the bottom of the SOHO sunspots page and at the Solar Observing site. (HINT: Answer should include numerical sunspot data.)
Describe the pattern of sunspot activity over the past 20 years.
What is your prediction for sunspot activity over the next 10 years?
c) Using a search engine such as Google and/or Scirus, research the term solar wind and write a definition below.
According to the information at the SOHO site, what is the current speed and density of the solar
wind? (HINT: Data is available from the SOHO link provided in Q5.)