Tracking High-Energy Protons from Coronal Mass Ejections

This guided inquiry activity gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of kinematics and dynamics to determine when particles were accelerated by an interplanetary shock wave from a coronal mass ejection (CME). Students analyze (1) coronagraph images taken by the NASA’s SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) and (2) proton flux graphs recorded by a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) detector during a CME event that sent high-energy protons toward Earth. Students discover that the CME shock waves that accelerated the protons did so at a point near the Sun. This resource is designed to supplement a standard university level mechanics course at either the introductory or advanced level.