Overview of SunEarth Connections

1
Overview of Sun-Earth Connections

• Fundamental Ideas from SEC
• Why Should Teachers Care?
• The sunspots are coming, the sunspots are
  coming.Solar Maximum is Here!

2
Fundamental Concepts from SEC

• The Sun is dynamic
• We live in the atmosphere of the Sun
• Earth responds to the changing sun -- that
  response is known as space weather
  
• Scientists study the Sun-Earth Connection using
  data from spacecraft, ground stations,
  supercomputers, and rocket experiments

3
The Sun is dynamic, not constant

• Our Sun is a big, hot, massive star
• It has cycles -- sunspots, fast and slow solar
  wind, magnetic field reversals, irradiance --
  time scales from seconds to a million years
  
• Quiet features -- solar wind, rotation, emitting
  different radiations/wavelengths
  
• It has the astrophysical equivalent of storms and
  weather -- CMEs, flares, prominences, filaments,
  radio bursts

4
We live in the atmosphere of the Sun

• Space is not a vacuum - filled by dynamic,
  blustery solar wind extending far beyond the
  planets
  
• Interaction between the solar wind and the
  Earth's magnetic field produces a cavity around
  Earth -- the magnetosphere
  
• Solar wind/system carves a place in the
  galaxy/interplanetary space

5
Earth responds to the changing sun

• That response is known as space weather
• Space (particularly around Earth) is a tough
  place to live and work
  
• Effects of SEC activity are visible at Earth --
  aurora and airglow are examples
  
• Space weather effects our systems and society,
  principally technology