Sun Dance The Sun is a glowing and gaseous star. The Sun provides the only source of natural light for planet Earth. Besides natural light, the Sun gives the Earth heat and energy (Greshko, 2018). The Earth figuratively and literally revolves around the Sun. The Sun is extremely important for life on Earth, because without the Sun, we would not survive. The Sun is able to maintain its form by its own gravity and nuclear reactions that occur at its center (Chaisson & McMillan, 2016). The Sun's core is a hollow ball of extremely hot gas and charged particles which are called plasma. Within the core, hydrogen is converted to helium in order to generate energy from the radiative zone to the convection zone. Nuclear fusion helps convert hydrogen to helium. Nuclear fusion is the combining of light nuclei into heavier ones (Chaisson & McMillan, 2016). In the convection zone, extremely hot plasma rises and falls to transfer energy to the Sun's surface. The rising and falling plasma has been noted to look like the oozing in a lava lamp (Greshko, 2018). The movement of the plasma has been reported to look like the Sun's is dancing On October 10th, 2019, Astronomy Picture of the Day posted a video of the Sun's surface which appears to be dancing. NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft recorded the time-lapse video in ultraviolet light. The video originally spanned for three hours and was time-lapsed into only fifteen seconds. The sun interestingly enough looked like it was performing a fiery acrobatic somersault. A somersault is a movement (as in gymnastics) in which a person flips forwards or backwards in a full revolution on the ground or in the air (Merriam- Webster, 2018). The unique motion on the sun was caused by a magnetic field's impact on hot plasma rising and falling. The magnetic field directed the flow of the hot plasma moving along the Sun. Seen on the photosphere, which is the surface of the sun, is the swirling of a red and orange gas which appears to be dancing (Nemiroff & Bonnell, 2018). There have been reports of people around the world seeing the Sun dancing. Even though the people on Earth are significantly farther away from the Sun than the NASA spaceeraft is, there have been claims that the sun is dancing. For example, in Ireland, a small group of people reported seeing the Sun dancing. Since it is highly unlikely to notice the hot plasma rising and falling all the way from Earth, a more natural reason for the Sun dancing was explained. The group of people were told that the apparent Sun dancing was more likely due to the moving of the clouds with the changing in brightness and dimness of the sun (The Irish Times, 2009). A second example, in the Philippines, was when a religious group reported seeing the sun dancing in the sky. The religious group believed they saw a vision of Jesus Christ in the light. Similarly, to the first example, it is highly unlikely to be seeing the movement of plasma on the Sun from so far away. A state weather agent explained that atmospheric ice crystals likely caused the celestial display (Martin, 2018). A third example, in Portugal, was when a group reported the Sun dancing in the sky. The group noticed the dancing and claimed that the Sun was whirling around in the sky and then moving side to side. The group of people believed that the Sun dancing was a sign from God (Guzmán-Dominguez, 2017). Even though each report of Sun dancing was not related to NASA's video of the moving plasma, I thought it was very interesting dancing was not related to NASA's video of the moving plasma, I thought it was very interesting that people all over the world thought they really saw the Sun dancing. I really enjoyed learning about Sun dancing. Even though the Sun does not in fact dance, I think there is a lot to learn from the Astronomy Picture of the Day video. Watching the video, I was able to further understand the layers of the sun and how they properly work together. I really liked seeing the video of how the magnetic field impacted the movement of the plasma. I also really found it interesting reading the articles from people believing that they were witnessing the Sun dancing. I am not religious, so I appreciated learning about how some of the religious groups thought that the Sun dancing was related to religion. This project is worth a total of 200 points: 140 for the individual research, and 15 points for each of 4 peer posts/responses. Contact your instructor if you need clarification. Research of APOD (140 points max) Peer Responses "A" Work Grades are assigned when a student: Thorough research into the topic of the APOD. Discussion, analysis, explanation(s) of whatever topic is presented is comprehensive and complete. Mostly thorough research into the topic of the APOD. Discussion, analysis, explanation(s) of whatever topic is presented is mostly comprehensive and complete. "B" Work . (60 Points max) Appropriate comments Clear reference to assignment or prior post Respectful to others Mostly appropriate comments Somewhat clear reference to assignment or prior post Respectful to others Partially appropriate comments Unclear reference to assignment or prior post "C" Work Somewhat thorough research into the topic of the APOD. Discussion, analysis, explanation(s) of whatever topic is presented is somewhat comprehensive and complete. . • "D" Work Responds with minimum effort (i.e. "I agree") Disrespectful post Demonstrates little understanding of the APOD topic Discussion, analysis, explanation(s) of whatever topic is presented is not comprehensive and/or complete, but an attempt was somewhat made. Demonstrates very little understanding of the APOD topic Discussion, analysis, explanation(s) of whatever topic is presented is not presented at all or is completely off base. "F" Work No post "Grade" = Research Score + Peer Response Scores (4x) "A" = 140, 15 "B" = 116, 12 "C" = 94,9 "D" = 70,6 "F" = 35,0 For example Sally Student Earns: RS = B, PR scores of A, C, A, F This would give a grade of 116 + 10 + 9 + 10 + 0 = 136 points.
Purchase answer to see full attachment