ESC 1000 Class Video Name: __________________
Section: MW TR R
Date: ______________
|
The
Life and Death of the Sun - Space - Exploring the mysteries
of our local star – the Sun |
Film Notes: (use the back
if necessary)
Student Questions:
How do scientists collect samples of the Sun when a probe could never get near the Sun’s surface?
How do we get the Sun’s energy?
How old is the Sun?
How and when will the Sun die and will the Earth survive?
Your Questions/Answers:
1.
2.
Discovery Statement:
SYNOPSIS
The Sun is the most powerful force in our solar system. It generates the heat and light that
sustains us. Without it we wouldn’t have life on Earth. But the Sun is violent
and volatile and is becoming more dangerous as it ages.
We explore the life and death of
the Sun. We explore what will happen in the future as the Sun ages? How are our
lives linked to the Sun’s life cycle?
Firstly we want to understand how
the Sun was created form a giant cloud of dust and gas. Scientists pretty much
agree on the theory but physical evidence is hard to come by…….at least until
now. We meet scientists at Johnson Space Center who have been working on a ten
year mission to bring a piece of the Sun back to Earth. How do scientists
collect samples of the Sun when a probe could never get near the Sun’s surface?
We follow NASA’s dare devil mission to capture the samples.
Today we rely on the Sun to live.
It’s energy fuels trees and plants which are essential
for the food chain we all depend upon. But how do we get the energy? This film
explores the incredible journey that the particles of light from the Sun have
to make to earth to deliver their energy.
How old is the Sun? This is a
question which has fascinated scientists for a long time. Scientists have now
established the Sun’s age with the aid of one remarkable fact that the Sun
sings. We visit Big Bear Solar Observatory in California to meet one of the
scientists who has been at the forefront of using the Sun’s sounds to determine
its age.
The Sun’s warmth and light helped
life on Earth to begin but it can also play havoc with our modern way of life.
Billions of tons of plasma erupting from the sun send powerful storms hurtling
through our solar system. We visit the Space Environment Center in Boulder,
Colorado where they try to predict the sun’s violent moods. 1989 brought one of
the most dramatic space storms and we uncover the events which took place on
the Earth. But what lies behind the explosive events on the Sun. We travel to
the California Institute of Technology in Los Angeles where they are trying to
understand the science behind the explosions by creating them in the laboratory.
But what about
the risks of solar storms to astronauts in Space? We meet Michael Foale
who was directly in the line of fire on the International Space Station during
the intense solar activity in 2003. There is one solar event astronauts can’t
be protected from. A superflare.
Superflares are up to 10 million times more energetic
than the most powerful solar flares. We journeys to Louisiana to meet an
astrophysicist who has found evidence of nine stars that have experienced superflares. And what if our sun ever produced a superflare? What would happen to life on earth?