Sun-Earth Day 2002:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday

By Elaine Lewis and Troy Cline

We have less then a month until Sun-Earth Day 2002 on March 20th!    Be sure to visit the Sun-Earth Day website for complete details concerning the webcast including information on how to participate and where to send questions. The schedule for the entire webcast, including hot links to each of the activities, is online.  We have also invited a group of high school, middle school and elementary school students to join us live at the web cast site!  Each of these groups will be sharing results of their Sun-Earth Day activities. 

During the webcast you will see:

• Recently taken video clips of Joseph Chasing Horse, Chief of the Lakota Nation who will explain various parallels between the Lakota culture and Sun-Earth science. 

• An interview with Astronaut John Young. (This is really special for those of us who followed the beginning missions to the moon!) He was the first person to fly in space 6 times from Earth: seven times counting his lunar liftoff.  His 4th space flight, Apollo 16, on April 16-27, 1972, was a lunar exploration mission.  He drove 16 miles in the lunar rover and collected 200 pounds of rocks.  I wonder if he would have done that if we had predicted a solar storm?

Scenes of student activities on Sun-Earth Day at various sites.

We have arranged for NASA TV to broadcast the entire 2-hour event.  Below you will see the coordinates for the NASA satellite.  Please feel free to send these coordinates to local museums, planetariums, etc.  You can also find them posted on the website under the web cast schedule.

            Coordinates for NASA satellite

            GEZ Transponder 9C

            at 85 degrees West Longitude

            Vertical polarization

            Frequency T3880 mHz

            Audio 6.8

We have also completed a new NASA Connect math program called, “ A Solar Blast”, that can be viewed on NASA TV on March 28th.  The program will feature four of our Sun-Earth Connection Missions: IMAGE, HESSI, SOHO, and ACE.  By visiting our site at http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday, you will find the math activity featured on the program plus more information on how to get involved. When you get to our site, be sure to click on the section called, Featured Activities 2002.  Also Check PBS and the Education Channel listings for the additional broadcast times. 

We are really excited about the response to this year’s event. The interest seems to be spreading!  Please share with everyone, let us know what is happening in your area and have as much fun as we are having putting this together.