This is an activity about size and scale. Learners will construct a 3-D model scale model of one of the MMS satellites. After, they will calculate the octagonal area of the top and bottom of the satellites, given the measurements of the satellite.... (View More) Then, learners will compare the octagonal cross-section area of the satellites with the circular cross-section area of the launch vehicle to determine if the eight-sided spacecraft will fit the circular rocket hull. This is lesson one as part of the MMS Mission Educator's Instructional Guide. (View Less)

This is an activity about cause and effect. Learners will investigate various online sources to find data and other pertinent information regarding reported effects on Earth for the solar events they identified in the previous activities in this... (View More) curriculum set. Then, they will summarize their findings for this activity as part of the overall Space Weather project. This is Activity 13 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about measurement. Learners will label key points and features on a rectangular equal-area map and measure the distance between pairs of points in order to calculate the actual physical distance on the Sun that the point pairs... (View More) represent. This is Activity 5 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about assessing magnetic activity on the Sun as astronomers do. Learners will select and compare five visible light solar images and identify and label each individual sunspot group. Then, learners will count all possible... (View More) sunspots from each group and use both counts in a standard equation to calculate the Relative Sunspot Number for each respective solar image. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 8 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about cause and effect. Learners will calculate the approximate travel time of each solar wind event identified in the previous activity in this set to estimate the time at which the disturbance would have left the Sun. Then,... (View More) they will examine solar images in an attempt to identify the event on the Sun that may have caused the specific solar wind episode. This is Activity 12 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about solar flare activity. Learners will use whole-Sun maps of magnetic activity in order to identify possible future magnetic activity. They will take into account the rotation of the Sun and make day-to-day predictions of the... (View More) overall Earth-side magnetic activity as suspected farside features rotate onto the Earth-side, and as Earth-side features rotate out of view onto the farside. Finally, learners will check the accuracy of their predictions. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the Stanford University solar magnetic map archive from 1996 to 2011 and the GOES X-ray image archive. This is Activity 9 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about searching online data archives for solar wind events. Learners will find at least three episodes of increased solar wind activity impacting Earth using direct measurements of solar wind velocity and density. Then, they will... (View More) characterize each events by its rise time, the time it takes for the solar wind speed to rise from normal levels to the peak speed of the event, and the percentage increase in solar wind velocity. This is Activity 11 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)

This is an activity about the period of the Sun's rotation. Learners will use image of the Sun from the SOHO spacecraft and a transparent latitude/ longitude grid called a Stonyhurst Disk to track the motion of sunspots in terms of degrees of... (View More) longitude. Using this angular motion measurement, learners will then calculate the sunspot’s angular velocity in order to determine the rotation period of the Sun. This activity requires access to the internet to obtain images from the SOHO image archive. This is Activity 4 of the Space Weather Forecast curriculum. (View Less)