1. Bellwork 10/17 Which moon formation theory seems most plausible? Why?
Why are the other three explanations not so great…?

2. Moon Formation Theory Find a small group at a lab table
Go over your data from the Moon Formation Theories
On a whiteboard, please write down which theory is best supported and WHY…make sure you can explain why the other ones don’t work.
I’m going to conference with each group individually and give you my “stamp of approval”.

3. So, we’ve talked about… Formation of the Solar System
Planet formation and their laws of movement
Minor members & the craters they create
The moon’s features & formation
What’s the last BIG thing in our Solar System…?

4. Sun One of 200 billion stars that make up the Milky Way galaxy
Only star close enough to allow the surface features to be studied
An average star…in many ways
But these average features lead to some interesting results in our solar system…

6. By studying the structure of our star, we can understand our solar system’s Habitable Zone

7. Layers of the Sun 1. Solar Interior Cannot be observed directly
Source of the Sun’s energy is nuclear fusion
Proton-proton chain converts 4 Hydrogen nuclei into the nucleus of a Helium atom
Matter is released in the form of energy
“The conversion of just one pinhead’s worth of hydrogen to helium generates more energy than burning thousands of tons of coal”

8. Layers of the Sun 2. Photosphere "Sphere of light“
Sun's "surface" – actually a layer of incandescent gas less than 500 kilometers thick
Grainy texture made up of many small, bright markings, called granules, produced by convection

9. Granules of the solar photosphere

10. Layers of the Sun 3. Chromosphere Just above photosphere
Lowermost atmosphere
Relatively thin, hot layer of incandescent gases a few thousand kilometers thick

11. Layers of the Sun 4. Corona Outermost portion of the solar atmosphere
Ionized gases escape from the outer fringe and produce the solar wind
Temperature at the top exceeds 1 million K
This is MUCH higher than the photosphere…WHY?
What does the sun sound like?
Music From Sun Data

12. The solar structure

13. Solar Features Sunspots On the solar surface
Dark color is due to a cooler temperature (1500 K less than the solar surface)
Large spots are strongly magnetized
Pairs have opposite magnetic poles

14. Solar Features
Flares
Explosive events that normally last an hour or so
Associated with sunspot clusters
Release enormous quantities of energy
UV, radio, and X-ray radiation
Eject particles that reach Earth in about one day
interact with the atmosphere to cause the auroras (the Northern and Southern Lights)

15. How does this relate to Habitable Zones?
Habitable Zones & Their Parent Stars
These features and interactions with planets determine whether an object is within a habitable zone?

16. What is a “Habitable Zone”?
 the region surrounding the star in which water can remain in its liquid state
What kind of assumption are we making here?
A few factors go into determining the size & location of that Habitable Zone
Let’s explore this! Habitable Zone Simulation

17. MsMuellerScience.weebly.com

18. Bellwork 10/18
What features of a star might be helpful to consider when determining a habitable zone?

19. Coming Up…
Today: Habitable Zones, Drake Equation, Search for Exoplanets
Friday: Finish Exoplanets, Intro to Astrobiology, Set up practice Lab
Tuesday 10/24: Collect practice lab data, complete research proposal
Monday 10/30: Set up astrobiology lab, review
Wednesday 1/1: TEST (and collect data)
Friday 1/3: Finish data collection & write up

20. Habitable Zones
the region surrounding the star in which water can remain in its liquid state
Your goal is to understand:
How can the location of a habitable zone change?
How can the width of a habitable zone change?
How does this help us understand where to look for life?
Link is on MsMuellerScience.weebly.com
OR…just google “Habitable Zone Simulation”
Program doesn’t seem to work in Chrome on some laptops…