Credit: NASA/SDO

By Stacy Palen

Just in time for the close of the semester, we get a present from NASA! According to this article on NPR, the Parker Solar Probe has arrived at the Sun, and it’s sending us back some big surprises.

Here are some questions, inspired by the Parker Solar Probe’s recent discoveries, that you can ask your students:

1) In 2025, the Parker Solar Probe will come within 4 million miles of the Sun, which is 1/10 the orbital distance of Mercury. To date, it has passed within about 15 million miles from the Sun (almost 4/10 the orbital distance of Mercury). Make a sketch of the Sun and the orbit of Mercury, and then draw circles that show the closest distance of the Parker Solar Probe so far, and its distance in 2025.

Answer: A sketch.

2) The Parker Solar Probe has observed unexpected spikes in the flow of solar wind, where its speed suddenly increases by 300,000 miles an hour, which is nearly double its normal, steady speed. These spikes last for varying amounts of time, from a few seconds to hundreds of seconds. Convert this information into a graph of the speed versus time for an outflow over five minutes of observation. Assume that two spikes occur, one of 5 seconds and one of 100 seconds.

Answer: A graph.

3) The Parker Solar Probe may answer a question that’s been around for decades called the “solar corona problem.” From the context of the article, or from some general research on Google, describe this problem in your own words.

Answer: Why is the corona so hot?

4) The article repeatedly mentions that the magnetic field “flips” without thoroughly explaining this process. What exactly does this flipping of the Sun’s magnetic fields mean?

Answer: This means that the north end of the magnetic field switches locations with the south end.

5) Why did astronomers think that their equipment might be malfunctioning?

Answer: Because the changes in the speed and direction of the magnetic field were happening much faster than expected.

Credits: NASA/STScI

By Stacy Palen

Supernova 1987a may be the most well-studied supernova in history. But the “corpse” had not been found! However, this may have changed according to this article from Scientific American.

Here are some questions you can ask based on this article:

1) How long ago was this supernova first observed on Earth?

Answer: 30 years.

2) How long ago did the supernova actually occur?

Answer: 163,000 years

3) Why do astronomers typically not worry about the discrepancy between the times in question 1 and question 2?

Answer: We can’t know about anything that happens until the light gets here. As far as we are concerned, the moment we observe it IS the moment when it happened.

4) What is special about supernova 1987a?

Answer: Supernova 1987a is so unusually close that we can see it in detail, and watch it evolve in real time. It is also the first supernova observed for which we had seen the progenitor star.

5) Why had astronomers argued that a neutron star (as opposed to, say, a black hole) should result from this supernova?

Answer: The progenitor star was about 20 solar masses. This is in the range between 8 and 25 solar masses, which is expected to result in a neutron star.

6) What is the evidence that has been presented for the detection of a neutron star?

Answer: A bright blob within a dense dust blob.

7) What will astronomers do to strengthen their conclusions from this evidence?

Answer: Get more data, of course!

By Stacy Palen

In my other life, I train horses and riders. This means that I routinely deal with actual life-threatening situations like runaway horses and bad falls. Even non-life-threatening situations such as broken bones, giant bruises, bumps, cuts, and scrapes can seem routine to me but be scary for others.

Because of this background, I sometimes struggle to really understand and empathize with students who literally fear math and have an obvious physiological response to being asked to do it.

Recently, I came across a Facebook post by equestrian Denny Emerson about fear that helped crystallize my thoughts about this.

Two things you should know about Denny: First, Denny is as famous in the horse community as Tom Brady is in football. Second, his sport is more dangerous than most horse sports, as the horses race cross-country on uneven ground over solid fences that don’t come down. It’s not unheard of for people to die doing this sport at the highest levels.

Here’s part of what he had to say:

But we all experience things that create the exact flight or fight response as actual extreme danger that are not actually dangerous.

Case in point----Denny Emerson, age 9, is cowering in Miss Gibson's Four Corners School 4th grade math class, trying to remain invisible, as students are handed a piece of chalk, and asked to solve problems on the black board, in front of the whole class. As his name gets called, Denny is suffering the agonies of the damned, just as if he was about to be hurled into a pit of writhing cobras.

Which is another way of pointing out that the fear we so often experience is not actually in direct proportion to the danger we are in, but it feels that way.

So, then, it follows more or less logically, that one way to alleviate being paralysed by fear is to avoid, if possible, real danger, and to try to become better prepared to face challenge that only feels like true danger. Like arithmetic.^[1]

Denny went on to talk about how to condition yourself and your horse to deal with fear, but I made a note in my mind of what he had to say here.

It resonated with me because a week or so before that, I heard the familiar whine of “When am I ever going to use this in real life?” from one of my students. (I refrained from pointing out that she was in astronomy class…practicality isn’t really the point.)

Denny’s answer is one that I’ve tried to articulate for a long time, and one of the best that I know: “it’s practice.”

Mathematics is not actually dangerous. AT ALL. But for some students, it feels that way.

Good. That makes it an opportunity to practice being afraid while holding it together and getting the job done anyway.

It’s practice at a tool they need in order to find success in the world.

Come to think of it, this may have been what my parents meant when they told me to do hard things I didn’t like because “it builds character.”

I probably won’t tell my students that—it sounds a lot like a curmudgeon's “get off my lawn” rant. But I may spend some time talking to them directly about how this practice can help them in other adrenaline-laden situations.

^{[1]Emerson, Denny. Tamarack Hill Farm Facebook Page. “More thoughts about fear, and how to live with the reality of fear without being a slave to fear” Facebook, November 23, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10155572672270947&id=109161715946}