The exhibit is coming soon to these locations...

• Alder Planetarium (Chicago, Illinois) -- September 2001 to January 2002
• Insights El Paso Science Museum (Texas) -- Spring 2002

  Since the exhibit tour began in March 2000, the Space Weather Center has visited the Denver Museum of Natural History, the Sacramento Discovery Museum, the Maryland Science Center, the Visitor Center at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Lawrence Hall of Science.

To learn more about this exhibit, go to http://www.spacescience.org/SWOP/Exhibits/Mini_Exhibit/overview/

To see a "virtual tour" of the exhibit, go to: http://www.spacescience.org/SWOP/SWCV/

Museum curators and science center professionals, go here for more information on renting this exhibit: http://www.spacescience.org/SWOP/Exhibits/Mini_Exhibit/1.html

Here is what the media is saying about our exhibit:

Exhibits help youths explore space
By Carey Peterson
The Sacramento Bee
August 6, 2000

Five, four, three, two, one is the countdown for new space exhibits to take off at 3615 Auburn Blvd. Area residents will have the opportunity to explore the two new exhibits through mid-September at the Discovery Museum Science & Space Center. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

"There is a growing interest in space and the solar system," said Susan Douglas, the center's education director. "This a wonderful attraction for Sacramentans. This is such a prestigious exhibit."

Visitors will be able to learn how the dangerous radiation of "space weather" affects Earth's technology in the Space Weather Station exhibit.

The exhibit greets visitors with a large photomural of the sun and the comet-shaped magnetic region surrounding Earth that is known as the magnetosphere. The mural is backlighted and activated by a push button.

"This exhibit is important for kids," said Charlie Coburn of Cameron Park, who serves on the board of directors for the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society. "There are many schools that have dropped science programs, and for the Discovery Museum to provide this exhibit for children, they are able to get great exposure to the science world."

Traveling through the exhibit, visitors also will be able to observe a plasma ball, which is composed of electrified gas, sometimes referred to as the fourth state of matter. In this state, the gas can conduct electricity, which creates lightning.

In addition, to the mural and the plasma ball, visitors can spin a magnet and slide it inside of a wire coil. The changing magnetic field causes an electrical current to flow in the coil.

Another attraction in the exhibit is a tube filled with the strong electrical currents that flow toward the Earth's poles. The glow in the tube is caused by plasma carrying an electrical current. Visitors can move a magnet along the side of the glass tube, and see how the magnet affects the glowing plasma inside the tube.

The Space Weather Station exhibit was developed by the Space Science Institute in partnership with [NASA]'s [Goddard Space Flight Center] in Maryland. The funding came from [NASA] and the National Science Foundation.

"The exhibit is fun and interesting," said David Gretman, 12, of Citrus Heights. "It's interactive and easy to use."

(Copyright: The Sacramento Bee)