THE SUN-EARTH CONNECTION

An Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) Newsletter

for the Sun-Earth Connection Science Community - and beyond!

May 16, 2007 Volume VIII, Issue 1

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See End for Sponsor Information, How to Contribute (please

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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=> 1. “Total Solar Eclipse: Live from Turkey”

Wins People’s Voice Webby Award!

=> 2. NASA Space Scientist Dr. Mario Acuna Elected to

National Academy of Science

=> 3. Tuning Into the Sounds of Space: The Radio Jove Project

=> 4. What Do the Modern Maya Do For Fun?

=> 5. News from the Living with a Star E/PO Program:

Solar Schools and More

=> 6. The Day the Sun Blew Up

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1. “TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE: LIVE FROM TURKEY” WINS WEBBY AWARD!

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The 2006 webcast “Total Solar Eclipse: Live from Turkey”

produced by the Exploratorium in partnership with NASA’s

Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum and the STEREO mission

has won a People’s Choice Webby Award! The Webby Award is

the leading international award honoring excellence on the

Internet. Each year, the People's Voice Awards garners

hundreds of thousands of votes from the Web community all

over the world. www.webbyawards.com

The webcast: On March 29, 2006, a total solar eclipse occurred

when the new moon moved directly between the sun and the

earth. The moon’s shadow fell on the eastern tip of Brazil,

sped eastward across the Atlantic, through northern Africa,

across the Mediterranean, and into Turkey, where an Explora-

torium team was waiting to capture all the action LIVE.

View the award-winning archived webcast here:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/2006/index.html

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2. DR. MARIO ACUNA ELECTED TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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Mario Acuna has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Mario is a world leader in the investigation of magnetic fields

and plasmas in our solar system. He is only one of two Goddard

scientists (and perhaps NASA) who are elected to the National

Academy of Sciences (the other one is Dr. John Mather, who won

the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.)

Congratulations to Dr. Acuna!

SECEF hopes to feature him soon in a podcast.

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3. TUNING INTO THE SOUNDS OF SPACE: THE RADIO JOVE PROJECT

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Ocean waves breaking up on a beach. Pebbles landing on a tin

roof. A quiet hiss.

Sandy beaches, tin roofs and hissing snakes don't exist in

space. But with the right equipment, these are the kinds of

noises derived from radio signals emitted by extraterrestrial

bodies and the Milky Way galaxy in general.

These sounds from space are music to the ears of Wanda Diaz,

a graduate student who is blind. She studies radio astronomy

at the University of Puerto Rico.

Diaz has not let her visual impairment interfere with her

passion for radio astronomy, or prevent her from passing

that passion on to a new generation of astronomers. NASA's

Radio JOVE project has played an important role in her

ability to conduct research and to teach astronomy to

younger students.

The Radio JOVE kit contains all the parts needed to build a

radio telescope. The main components are the antenna and

receiver. The antenna picks up the powerful bursts of

radio signals that the sun and Jupiter create. The receiver

converts the signals into audio, letting observers listen to

celestial objects that are millions of miles away. Diaz says

that by listening to radio data, she finds herself grasping

details that she otherwise may not have noticed.

Carrying out research without sight is difficult at first

and it is easy to get discouraged, she said, but you soon

discover the importance of your other senses, like touch

and hearing, and "then you realize that you're finding hidden

patterns."

Diaz first became interested in radio astronomy six years ago

while earning her undergraduate degree in physics. She had

started to lose her sight because of diabetes, and worried

about how that would affect her career. But things fell into

place when she learned of Radio JOVE, and that she could listen

to radio signals and analyze them. "I was asking myself, 'How

could I be a physicist and how could I do astronomy when I'm

losing my sight?'" Diaz said. "Then, I heard about Radio JOVE

and I said, 'OK, this is the way to go.'"

Jim Thieman, a radio astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight

Center, started the Radio JOVE project in 1998 together with

colleagues from Goddard, the University of Florida and several

other places. Since then the project has sold more than 900

kits. Students, teachers and radio astronomy enthusiasts can

order the kits online for $155.

Data collected can be used for various research projects, from

gauging the strength and predictability of radio storms to

learning about changes in the ionosphere -- the electrically

charged outer layer of the Earth's atmosphere. Students can

even share their observations with amateur and professional

radio astronomers.

Read the rest of this article at the NASA Portal

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/5-8/features/

F_Tuning_in_Sounds_of_Space.html

Radio Jove - http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/

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4. WHAT DO THE MODERN MAYA DO FOR FUN?

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This past April 29th, hundreds of Hispanics of Mayan descent

with roots in the Yucatán, México, and many others, sauntered

over to the Pickleweed Community Center in San Rafael,

California. Several hundred members of the San Francisco

Bay Area’s Mayan community turned out for “Traditions of

the Sun Through Time and Culture,” a popular event featuring

Mayan astronomy and other cultural expressions that ran

spiritedly from 2:30 pm until hours after dark. Many families

participated enthusiastically in the NASA educational stations

outdoors, featuring heliophysics activities that celebrated the

connection between the Sun and the Earth. Participants proudly

wore NASA stickers as they worked through the various

educational activities – including Sun-gazing through a solar

telescope, exploring UV-sensitive beads, building solar clocks

and performing magnetism experiments. As a reward for

completing all the activities, children were presented with

NASA’s “Traditions of the Sun” book written in three languages

(Yucatec Maya, Spanish, and English).

Other events included:

• Public Talks by Experts from NASA and from the Archeological

Sites of Uxmal and Palenque

• “Mayan Astronomy in Palenque” – Alonso Mendez, archaeo-

astronomer, Palenque

• “NASA Investigations” – Isabel Hawkins (UC Berkley/NASA)

• “The Importance of Water in Ushmal: - José Huchim,

archaeologist, Uxmal

• Workshops with Activities for Families

• Dances, Songs, and Theatrical Performances

• Traditional Food and Refreshments

Sponsored through a partnership between the Yucatan government,

NASA’s Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum, and the Mexican

National Institute of Anthropology and History, this event was

part of an ongoing collaboration that strives to:

• Increase the general public’s interest in Astronomy through

the traditions of the Sun from yesterday and today.

• Engage and motivate Hispanic youth of Mayan heritage in

science, mathematics, and technology within a cultural context.

• Develop a model program that can be disseminated to other

parts of the country for the benefit of Hispanic audiences,

many of whom have indigenous roots.

Everyone had a fun -- and education-rich -- time! Families

supported the curiosity of their children in the context of

astronomy and science. This, along with fascinating speakers,

traditional dancing, and delicious food engaged participants of

all ages, who were sad to see the event come to a close. The

sentiments of a young participant summed it up, as he

exclaimed to the scientists hosting the magnetism table,

“Don’t leave! We want you to stay!!”

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5. NEWS FROM LWS/STP E/PO: SOLAR SCHOOLS AND MORE

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We have just completed our pilot year of NASA Solar School in

the Goddard Heliosphysics Projects Division Education &

Outreach Program. This year we had 14 participating schools

(elementary, middle and high school) from the District of

Columbia, Prince Georges County and Montgomery County Public

School System and a Catholic School from the District of Columbia.

Last month, Goddard Education Office, the Heliosphysics

Projects Division and the Inter-American University signed a

collaboration agreement to implement the NASA SOLAR Schools in

Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to serve as a pilot to

expand the scope of the program to a national level.

Furthermore, the Heliophysics Projects Division EPO in

collaboration with scientists and engineers will give a solar

workshop for our new partners at the Inter-American University

on June 25-29, 2007.

The Heliophysics Projects Division also conducted two solar

workshops at the Space and Earth Week at the University of

Turabo, and two solar workshops at a elementary and middle

school in the Caguas District Public Schools.

This summer, we will have our 2007 STEM institute for

Administrators with the US Virgin Island Department of

Education 2007 Our Star The Sun Summer Institute in San

Juan, Puerto Rico with the University of Puerto Rico, and

2007 Astronomy Institute at the national Radio Astronomy

Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.

-- Sarah Brown srbrown@pop600.gsfc.nasa.gov

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6. THE DAY THE SUN BLEW UP

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Dr. Sten Odenwald was invited to give the Benjamin Dean Lecture

“The Day the Sun Blew Up” at the California Academy of Science

in San Francisco on May 7. Two hundred people attended--which

was quite an accomplishment given that the lecture actually

took place at the SF Jewish Community Center while the Academy

of Science was closed for renovation. Sten discussed the 1859

“superstorm” experience based on historical and recent

scientific research. He covered the next solar cycle and what

such a storm could do if it happened today. The audience was

lively, engaged in a spirited question-and-answer session, and

came away with a new understanding of the seriousnes of space

weather and how it could impact their lives.

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Newsletter Sponsor Info: Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum

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How to Contact Us

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The Sun-Earth CONNECTION Education and Public Outreach

newsletter is issued approximately every 6-8 weeks. Back issues

can be found at

http://sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu/SECNews/

The Newsletter is sponsored by the Sun-Earth Connection

Education Forum (Goddard Space Flight Center and UC Berkeley;

Isabel Hawkins and Jim Thieman, Co-Directors) Sun-Earth

Connection Education Forum Web Site:

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov and

http://sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu

Please direct all submissions to the newsletter to:

Karin Hauck (Editor) - E-mail: editor@sunearth.ssl.berkeley.edu

Phone: (510) 642-2343 Fax: (510) 643-5660

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