Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum Podcasts
Transcript of Sun-Earth Day 2007 Podcast, Program 1
We live in the atmosphere of a dynamic, magnetic star that interacts with the Earth, the solar system and space beyond. My name is Troy Cline and You are listening to the first in a series of NASA podcasts for Sun-Earth Day 2007: Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun.
Each new podcast will bring you the latest updates and information about SED along with highlights from past SED themes. As a reminder, all of the past SED materials, webcasts and other resources are available online by accessing the SED home page at sunearthday.nasa.gov. Our newest addition to the website will support this new theme and will rollout on September 4, 2006, so be sure to mark your calendar!
From the SED homepage you will also see a link called, What is SED? In that section you will find a complete explanation of the SED program along with the most commonly asked questions that we've received from our audience. For instance, "Is Sun-Earth Day just a one day event?" The answer is, No. Sun-Earth Day is a combination of programs and events throughout the year ending with a Sun-Earth Day celebration on or near the Spring Equinox in March. Another common question is, "Who can host a Sun-Earth Day event?" Sun-Earth Day events are hosted by a growing list of educators and scientists from schools, community groups, parks, planetariums and science centers from around the globe. So make sure to register in order to receive all of the information you will need to have a successful program.
Throughout this podcast series we will also be chatting with quite a variety of people including NASA scientists, key members of the SED team, and educators from the NASA community. These folks will share .real. NASA science and provide you with latest SED information.
Also, while producing podcasts over the past few months, we.ve received quite a bit of enthusiastic feedback directly from our listeners. As a result of that feedback, there will be several additions to this series of podcasts including interviews with students, teachers, and museum experts. Each of these people will share their favorite SED experiences, activities, and tips!
Our first interview for SED 2007 is with none other than Elaine Lewis. Elaine comes to us with a rich background in education acquired from years of successful teaching and curriculum development. She is also the lead for the SED 2007 program.
Troy: Elaine, many of our listeners are going to be very curious about this years theme. And as we mentioned, this years theme is SED 2007, Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun. So can you explain to us why we chose that theme for 2007?
Elaine: In 2007 and 2008, NASA will be celebrating with an international community the International Heliophysical Year. So we are going to point our students and the general public here to looking at the Heliosphere Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun, and understanding that we.re looking at all of out planets because all of the planets, not just Earth, live in the atmosphere of the Sun.
Troy: Now how can our listeners participate in this years Sun Earth Day? I'm aware and many of us are aware that there's a website that they can go to for Sun Earth Day which is listed at the end of the podcast. But if somebody is really interested in learning how to participate this year and they haven't participated before, what should they do?
Elaine: First step is to go in and register. We have four audiences, Formal, Museums, Scientists, and Amateur Astronomers. So they will go in and register, and then they get an email from us first off that welcomes them. And then as there are updates and changes, when we launch the website, when we are planning a special event, when the folder and the materials are mailed to them, all those special things are announced and we send them a personal email and keep them up to date.
Troy: This past year, with Eclipse in a Different Light, when we were in Side, Turkey and actually webcasted - I can hear a storm in the background!
Elaine: Yeah! Ha ha!
Troy: Ha ha! Maybe I should roll the windows up in my car!
Elaine: Ha ha! Me too!
Troy: But this year's participation was incredibly large. Do you have any general numbers?
Elaine: I know that the international participation was over ten million people. Of course, they could see the eclipse, so maybe that's why it was so large. But we had eight hundred thousand here in the United States that participated in some way or another. They may have registered, they may have participated at a NASA Center, in a museum, on a sidewalk with an amateur astronomer, or having a scientist come into their classroom.
Troy: Can you explain what some of the activities or ideas for participation may be for 2007?
Elaine: We're hoping to have a series of panel discussions beginning with the Transit of Mercury on November 8th. So we'll have the scientist and we'll have educators on those panels. Scientists will share the science, the educators will share hands on activities or how to apply that science into their classroom and how it connects to standards.
Troy: And then, if everything goes as planned, there will be a series of panel discussions like you said, starting with the one on November 8th.
Elaine: And then we'd like to have one in January called Stereo First Light, because that's when the images from Stereo will first be made available so our participants will be able to see those images and understand those images with the scientists that are actually part of that mission. Then we look at Voyager who's gone out there and investigated and taken data on the Heliosphere. And then what we'd hoped to do is to end with a very special broadcast that will pull all of those pieces together and tell the story of Space Weather.
Troy: This past year, with Eclipse in a Different Light, when we were in Side, Turkey and actually webcasted - I can hear a storm in the background!
Elaine: And then we'd like to have one in January called Stereo First Light, because that's when the images from Stereo will first be made available so our participants will be able to see those images and understand those images with the scientists that are actually part of that mission. Then we look at Voyager who's gone out there and investigated and taken data on the Heliosphere. And then what we'd hoped to do is to end with a very special broadcast that will pull all of those pieces together and tell the story of Space Weather.
I like to tell students that I.ve heard it referred to, but when students look up at the stars and they see a constellation, but we have Sun Earth Connection Missions that also are like a constellation in the sky. They.re strategically placed so that they can get the best data for the scientist to understand the Sun, and our magnetosphere. So this is a chance for us to introduce those missions, share the science of those missions, have the missions tell their inter-related stories, and everyone to learn about the Sun together. We are also very excited because it looks like we are going to get an in depth interview with James Van Allen.
Troy: Incredible!
Elaine: Who discovered the Van Allen belts . part of our magnetosphere. So it looks like the next two years are going to be very very exciting as we share space weather with everyone.
: I can remember our very first Sun Earth Day. We were at Goddard, and we.d done some hands on activities with students and got them very excited about the Sun. And we brought in a panel. We in particular wanted to bring in some of our scientists who had made the suggestion about doing something like Sun Earth Day. And we also had our local astronaut there, Ron Parise. And, Ron Parise was very excited about doing Eclipse with is in 99. So in 2000 when we did Sun Earth Day, he was more than willing to be part of our panel. Kids lined up on both sides of the room to ask him questions. And he had shared with them how he had studied to become an astronaut and how he had to apply several times, and that a lot of astronauts do. Well, the first two questions really floored him. The first one was how do you go to the bathroom on the space shuttle.
Troy: Oh, of course. Ha ha!
Elaine: And the second one was what was wrong with you that it took you three years to become an astronaut?
Troy: Ha ha ha! If I could only become an astronaut in three years! That would be great! Elaine I would like to thank you for your time. It looks like the storm is coming closer. I hear the thunder approaching.
Elaine: It's time to go close the windows.
Troy: I think so. Thank you very much.
In upcoming podcasts you will hear from Isabel Hawkins who will share with us exciting information for museums, science centers and the general public. You will also hear from Lou Mayo who will fill us in on the new SED Amateur Astronomers program! Finally, Sten Odenwald will give us a sneak peak at the 2007 Technology through Time lineup.
As a reminder, we will be launching the new SED07 website, Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun, on September 4th, 2006. For all other details about the Sun-Earth Day program including information about our past SED themes be sure to visit our website at sunearthday.nasa.gov.
SED is a program sponsored by the NASA Sun Earth Connection Education Forum at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and at the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. To find out more about the Sun Earth Day Program, visit our website at sunearthday.nasa.gov.
This is Troy Cline signing off.
