This podcast shares highlights from 2 sessions that took place at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific conference in Chicago. Several of the programs that were mentioned by presenters and participants are listed below.
Participant Amanda Maynard refers to the ‘Adler Night and Day Podcasts’ http://www.adlerpodcast.com/. This bi-weekly podcast features observable celestial and man-made objects in the night sky as well as observed and forecasted solar activity.
Presenter Lou Mayo offers information on Sun-Earth Day’s Amateur Astronomy program http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2008/getinvolved/aa.php . As skilled sky observers and students of astronomy, you can give others a better understanding of the role the sun plays in our existence.
Presenter Elaine Lewis shares highlights from the Sun-Earth Day program and how it continues to increase the public’s interest in science content through the use of educational technology and a sound thematic approach.
Presenter Troy Cline demonstrates how students can quickly track the progress of a solar storm over the internet with the ‘Space Weather Action Center’ http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/swac/.
Presenters Isabel Hawkins and Felipe Tapia provide a glimpse of the living culture of the Mayan people in the Yucatan, where science and astronomy are practiced in a manner that integrates every other aspect of their culture into a native science. During their presentation they made several references to the popular Sun-Earth Day theme, “Ancient Observatories: Timeless Knowledge” http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2005/index.htm . This website features solar alignments with structures that mark the equinoxes and/or solstices.
Space Weather Forecasting costs only $5 million a year, but supports over $500 billion in annual revenue from the satellite and electrical power industries.