This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
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Carolyn.Y.Ng                    March 14, 2003
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301-286-1359)
Carolyn.Y.Ng.1{at}gsfc.nasa.gov

Elaine Lewis
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301-286-3337)
Elaine.M.Lewis.1{at}gsfc.nasa.gov

Release: 03-29

WELCOME THE SUN WITH UNDERSTANDING

After a harsh winter, many welcome the light and warmth of the Sun, 
and NASA invites you to learn the many ways our Sun affects the Earth, 
from beautiful Northern Lights displays to catastrophic power outages.

The NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum (SECEF) and Passport to 
Knowledge (P2K) jointly invite you to participate in Sun-Earth Day on 
March 18, 2003, Live From the Aurora. The public Sun-Earth days, now 
in their third year, aim to communicate the excitement of the 
fast-moving field of solar science and research into the Sun's effects 
on Earth. Thousands of participants at science museums, schools, and 
star parties in North America and Europe will talk with scientists, 
observe the Sun with telescopes connected to the internet, and learn 
about the Aurora (Northern and Southern Lights) and the Northern 
Peoples culture.

Nearly every NASA Center and NASA Educator Resource Center has planned 
an event for science teachers and students or for the public in 
conjunction with Sun-Earth Day. Specifically, more than 8,000 teachers 
have been invited to education workshops related to the science of the 
Sun-Earth Connection. NASA has Educator Resource Centers in every 
state. They are affiliated with the local NASA field center and 
provide NASA's educational materials and training to educators.

NASA Television also will air a series of programs about the Sun. 
Living With A Star, a solar science documentary, will air on March 
17th. Viewing this will prepare the audience for the March 18 live 
broadcast, Live From the Aurora, which features real-time interaction 
between NASA researchers on location at Poker Flat Research Range, 
Alaska -- the world's premier site to study the aurora with sounding 
rockets -- and youngsters staying up late at night at the Maryland 
Science Center, Baltimore, Md.; Chabot Space & Science Center, 
Oakland, Calif.; Fernbank Science Center, Atlanta, Ga., and The 
Imaginarium, Anchorage, Alaska.

Live From the Aurora a one hour interactive program will air 
nationally on participating PBS stations (check local listings) and on 
NASA Television from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. EST on March 18th, and then 
repeats at 2:00 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (subject to preemption for 
agency events). During the broadcast and for one hour after (1:00 
-3:00 p.m. EST) viewers can submit questions to a panel of NASA and 
University of Alaska/Geophysical Institute experts on the aurora by 
going to "On-Air" in the INTERACT section of the P2K/LIVE FROM THE 
AURORA website (see below.)

NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum (SECEF) translates and 
interprets the research results from NASA's solar science missions for 
educators and the public through training programs and educational 
products. P2K is the longest-running series of interactive learning 
adventures on public TV, and many of the shows in the series were 
funded by grants from NASA.

To learn more about Sun-Earth Day events in your community, visit:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/

To register to be part of the question and answer session on March 
18th, visit:  http://passporttoknowledge.com/sun/main.html

NASA television is available on amc2, transponder 9c at 85 degrees 
west longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0 
megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

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