Finding the Rotational Period of the Sun by Tracking Sunspots

Introduction
In this experiment you will be recreating one of the first methods used to determine
the rotational period of the Sun, albeit in greatly modified form. The photosphere of
the Sun has dark spots that you have seen result when the magnetic field at that
part of the Sun prevents the convection of hotter gases from the interior. The
cooler, though still very hot, regions appear darker against the brighter
background. As the photosphere rotates the sunspots move with it though
sometimes migrating a little during their visible lifetime. We now know that the
rotational period is different for different latitudes becoming progressively longer as
one moves from the equator toward the poles. In this experiment you will track a
particular sunspot for several days and use its movement to determine the rotational
period of that latitude.
Procedure
Getting the Pictures
First, you need to get the sunspot data to analyze. This data you will find in
pictorial form at the website of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
The data we need are now located at the following website.
http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/data_query
We will use the MDI Continuum photographs
which show the sunspot as a dark spot against an
orange disk.

Click on the above site. You will see a page like

Fig. 2 at the end of this paper. Fill in the needed
info exactly as shown in Fig. 2. Click SEARCH
and be patient while the list of files loads. Each
line in the list is a link to a particular image.
Click on one of the links to an image. Each link is
of the format 20080417 0624. Where the first 8
digits give the date of the photo in yyyymmdd
format. The last four digits give the time of day
when the photo was taken in 24 hour format hhmm. The image you see will
be of the solar disk in orange with dark spots at the left of your screen.
Below each image are the data for that image in the format listed above. A
small sample photo is shown at the right of this paragraph.
There are periods of time when NO SUN SPOTS are visible. For this reason
we have selected the period of January 2007 when there were several good
sunspots
If possible, find seven to nine images separated by about a day from each
other on which you can see the same sunspot. Make sure youre seeing the
same spot, if there are several spots visible on the same image.
Print the image with NO reduction or magnification

Repeat for the other images you selected.

Note: the images must all be the same size. These photos which have the
sunspots and the dates and time printed on them are where you get your data.
Getting the Longitude Grid
You need a way to find the locations of the sunspots. We want the longitude
of the sunspot. To get this information we need a Longitude-latitude grid. Go to the
following URL to get a copy. http://solar-center.stanford.edu/solarimages/latlong.html
Scroll to the bottom of the page where the More Precise grids are located and select
the proper one for the month in which your chosen pictures were taken. Print a copy
of this grid.
You may need to resize the grid. More than likely the grid and the Suns
images will not be the same size. Measure the diameter of the Suns image and
label that DS. Then measure the diameter of the grid and label that DG. Take the
ratio DS/DG. In one case that ratio was 1.08 meaning that the grid needed to be 8%
larger of 108 % of the size it currently is. Take your print of the grid and one of the
prints of the solar image to a copy shop and have the grid enlarged or, if the ratio is
less than 1.00, reduced, until it is the same size as the solar image. Then get a
transparency made of the grid. A local shop did this for just over a dollar.
Taking the Data
You need to determine and record three items from each of the pictures:
date, time, and longitude of the center of the chosen sunspot. These data go in the
first three columns in the following table. To get the Longitude change subtract the
first longitude from the second, observing proper algebraic signs, and write it in the
second row of the fourth column. Repeat for second and third days, etc. Determine
the time elapsed during this rotation by using the times written on the photos and
write it in the second row of the fifth column. Convert this time difference into days
by dividing by 24 hours/day and write the result in the second row of column six.
Take the ratio of the longitude change in degrees to the time in days to get the
rotation per day in deg/day. Write this in the second row of the last column. When
youve completed these calculations determine the average value of the Rotation/day
and put it in the appropriate space. Then determine the Rotational period by dividing
the average value of the rotation/day into 360 degrees. Write in the appropriate
space.
Copy this table and send an electronic copy to your instructor with you name,
date, course name and section number.

Data Table for Rotational Period of the Sun Laboratory

Date

Time

Longitude
(degrees
+ or -)

Longitude
Change
(degrees)

Time
Elapsed
(hours)

Time
Elapsed
(days)

Average
Daily
Rotation

Rotational
Period

Rotation
(deg/day)

Figure 2