Sun Day, April 11, is a day dedicated to our star, the Sun.  The Sun is the main source of energy for Earth.  As each part of the globe rotates daily into the Sun’s warm and cheering glow, darkness is removed and our world is energized.

The Sun is the only star we can study up close.  It affects us physically and psychologically, impacting our daily lives in a myriad of ways.  And yet many people still think of the Sun as little more than a giant light bulb in the sky.

Sun Day is a project intended to raise people’s awareness of our star, the Sun.  What is it? How does it affect us?  The different layers of the Sun, solar activity (Sunspots, Flares, Prominences, Coronal Mass Ejections and Solar Wind), space weather, energy production, helioseismology—these are all different aspects of the Sun waiting to be discovered and understood by each of us.

Sun Day activities you can organize and take part in range from simple to complex, giving participants a wide choice that allows even those who can’t afford an expensive telescope to learn/teach something new about our star.  In planning your own Sun Day activities, start with the suggestions below and then use your creative imagination!

Sun Day Suggested Activities:

• Observing by projection (pinhole method or using binoculars/telescope).
• Observing without amplification (using solar filters, like high density polymers or welding goggles).
• Observing with binoculars and telescopes that have solar & narrowband filters (like H-alpha).
• Rainbow Sun (solar spectrograph construction and “What is the solar spectrum?”)
• Sun goggles construction.
• Sundial construction.
• Cooking with the Sun (solar oven construction).
• 1R (One Rotation) (month-long Sunspot observation, to determine solar rotation period and, if possible, to assess differential rotation).
• Active Sun (compare your visual observations with other wavelengths, utilizing live images from solar observatories like SOHO/BBSO/Hinode…).
• And what if it’s raining?  Be ready for an indoor program with the “The Sun: Our Nearest Star” presentation from Galilean Nights (available in English, French and Portuguese).

Register Your Events:

Don’t forget to register your events. Let us know about your event and which part of the world you are from.  Please go to our Registration page to register.

Date: 11 April 2010