By Jim Green and Tom Smith
"Blackout!" Solar Storms and Their Effects on Planet Earth - Videotape
The IMAGE POETRY project and the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) teamed up to produce and develop the videotape "Blackout!" This educational videotape illustrates with 3D animation the phenomenal eruptions of our Sun and their effects upon the earth. Enormous ejections of solar material (Coronal Mass Ejections) and solar flares come alive as intense extremes of "space weather". These events can have serious effects on power grids, communications, pipelines, and satellites.
Competing in a field of more than 3,270 entries, the video eared two 1999 Crystal Communicator Awards in the Education and Animation/Special Effects categories and two 2000 Telly Awards in their Education and Animation categories.
The "Blackout!" videotape is part of an instructional module in the "Event Based Science" series. The module consists of the videotape, a teacher's guide, student booklets, and a NASA CD of valuable space science information. "Blackout!" and these teaching materials are now available and being distributed nationally by Dale Seymour Productions, California, as a six-week unit.
The "Blackout!" videotape alone is available from the NSSDC. 
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