Learn about the Sun on the Sunday closest to the summer solstice, the day with the most hours of sunlight during the year, marking the beginning of summer.
International SUNday, at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, takes place Sunday, June 23th, 2019, from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
It’s free to attend.
This annual event gives you the chance to safely view the Sun through a solar telescope, hear about unusual space weather and current solar research, and more.
Here’s some of what’s going on:
SOLAR OBSERVING ON THE TERRACE
1:30-3:30pm (weather permitting)
Safely look at the Sun through the Museum’s special “Hydrogen-Alpha” telescope — which highlights fascinating surface features and solar storms — on the Rooftop Terrace of the Museum’s Nature Research Center. With Dr. Patrick Treuthardt, Assistant Head of the Museum’s Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Lab.
TALKS IN THE SECU DAILY PLANET THEATER
12:30pm: Living With the Sun: How Stars Affect Life on Planets
Dr. Rachel Smith, Head, Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Lab/Curator of Meteorites, NC Museum of Natural Sciences and Associate Professor, Appalachian State University
The Sun affects life on Earth in several ways, from providing heat and energy that life needs to survive, to threatening health and technology with intense radiation and solar storms. Smith will discuss how life continues to thrive under our Sun, as well as how the Sun affects our ability to travel into deep space, and up to the point of the Sun’s eventual death in about 5 billion years. She will also share some highlights from current research on other stars and their potential for hosting habitable worlds.
1pm: NASA’s Missions Exploring the Sun
Tony Rice, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador
More than 20 missions are studying the Sun, its atmosphere, and its influence on the Earth. From America’s first satellite, Explorer I —which studied regions of solar wind captured near the Earth — to the Parker Solar Probe, which is flying through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, we’ll look at these solar-related missions and what we have learned and continue to learn from them.
While clouds may limit observation of the Sun, the talks will happen rain or shine, and the Museum’s Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Lab will be open beginning at noon, with astronomers and students available to talk with visitors about the Sun and current solar scientific exploration.
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