Space Weather - Yes, There Really is Weather in Space, sponsored by RappU

Presented by Art Poland 
$10, one session 4/2 at 1pm

This lecture will discuss weather in space as it affects spacecraft, man in space, and our advanced electronic systems on Earth(communications, GPS, power grid). Space weather begins at the Sun with the solar wind and solar flares. They travel through interplanetary space and interact with our spacecraft and the Earth’s magnetic field. It can cause things such as: satellite failures, Earth based power systems, and the northern lights. Global warming will also be discussed. The lecture will be at a general level with no need for a technical background.

Dr. Art Poland is a research professor at George Mason University in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He has had that position since his “retirement” from NASA in 2003. At NASA he studied energy processes in the solar atmosphere and was the lead U.S. scientist for the international spacecraft called SOHO (see soho.nascom.nasa.gov). During his last few years at NASA he was a member of the team that developed NASA’s and the nation’s space weather research program. Before working at NASA, Art worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado, where he was a member of a team that had a solar research experiment/telescope on Skylab.