The Astronomy Center has provided educational resources to introductory astronomy educators since 2003. Over the past 20 years, the rapid pace of discovery has rendered some of our linked resources obsolete. Thus, the Astronomy Center will be decommissioned on March 1, 2022. Our highest quality resources will be retained on ComPADRE.org.
Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker
written by
Mario Belloni
The Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker Lab uses the Tracker video analysis tool to measure and analyze the motion of sunspots to determine the solar rotation rate. This lab uses 31 still images taken 1 day apart of the Sun.
Requires Tracker version 4.6 or greater.
The zip file contains the lab instructions, the series of still images that will be made into a movie, and a sample Tracker file.
Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker Lab is one of several Tracker models used to incorporate computational and video analysis techniques in introductory astronomy. Tracker, a video analysis program with dynamical modeling, is an Open Source Physics tool. Additional models and programs can be found by searching ComPADRE for Open Source Physics or Tracker.
Please note that this resource requires
at least version 1.5 of Java (JRE).
Instructions for Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker
This pdf file contains the instructions for using the Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker files. download 349kb .pdf
Published: January 9, 2012
previous versions
Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker LOW RES
Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker files using 512 x 512 lower resolution images for slower/older computers. The main document uses 1024 x 1024 images and therefore is a larger download and uses more memory in Tracker to run smoothly. download 6019kb .zip
Published: June 13, 2012
previous versions
SDO Venus Transit Movie
This movie was generated by Tracker from individual images from the SDO satellite taken 90 minutes apart from June 1- June 10, 2012 download 4468kb .mov
Published: July 25, 2012
previous versions
M. Belloni, Computer Program MEASUREMENT OF THE SOLAR ROTATION RATE WITH TRACKER (2012), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517).
M. Belloni, Computer Program MEASUREMENT OF THE SOLAR ROTATION RATE WITH TRACKER (2012), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517>.
Belloni, M. (2012). Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker [Computer software]. Retrieved October 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517
Belloni, Mario. "Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker." https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517 (accessed 7 October 2024).
Belloni, Mario. Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker. Computer software. 2012. Java (JRE) 1.5. 7 Oct. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517>.
%A Mario Belloni %T Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker %D January 9, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517 %O application/zip
%0 Computer Program %A Belloni, Mario %D January 9, 2012 %T Measurement of the Solar Rotation Rate with Tracker %8 January 9, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11617&DocID=2517
Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.