6:00 pm: Doors Open for informal educational programming and special feature in our theater or planetarium

7:00 pm: FREE Classic Twilight Zone – The Midnight Sun

7:30 pm: Meet the Lecturer

8:00 pm: Lecture begins

Solar physicist and former Spacelab astronaut Dr. Loren Acton will launch us into the topic with "Discovering the Connection: The Day the Earth Caught Fire." He will recount the events around Richard Carrington's (English Astronomer) 1859 discovery of the solar storm that 'shocked' the world.  Acton will then carry the story of the sun-earth connection to the present, reviewing the importance of space missions like Skylab in the 1970s and YOHKOH at present, outlining the effects of sunspots on today's modern society, and explaining the importance of tracking, monitoring and preparing for them. Acton will also comment on hopes for future missions exploring the sun-earth connection.

The Exploring Space Lectures are made possible by the generous support of NASA, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and Aerojet.