Day Lab Part 3: Determine the Rotational Period of the Sun

Usually, in this part of the experiment, we would observe a sunspot's movement in order to calculate the rotational period of the sun.  Unfortunately, at the time of data collection, there were no visible sunspots.  Legacy data was used on the computer in order to salvage this part of the lab.

http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/majewski/astr130/LECTURES/LECTURE6/sunspots.gif

By overlaying longitude and latitude lines on a digital image of the sun, we were able to track the movement of the sunspots over time by moving ahead in the legacy data.  By recording the angular distance and time for each sunspot, we made use of the relation:
\[P=\frac{360^{\circ} \times t}{\theta}\] 
Where \(P\) is period, \(t\) is time, and \(\theta\) is rotation angle.
\[P=\frac{360^{\circ} \times 7975min}{80^{\circ}}=35,890min=\boxed{24.92days}\] 

This experiment was conducted with the Tuesday 1:00PM Lab Group.