WEBVTT FILE

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We're gonna step away from the Earth for
a little bit and talk about in my view

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and some view the most important object
in the solar system besides the one we

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live on but the one at the center of it
the Sun. The thing that powers it all, so

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let's start off with the Sun we see
every day is not too exciting I mean we

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know that we're not supposed to look at
it. It's really really bright but even if

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you look at it with a telescope and look
at it in invisible light unless there's

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a Sun SPOT too loud too loud
okay can you turn down just a little bit

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unless you look at it outside of the
atmosphere it's really just a big yellow

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ball maybe with a sunspot or two across
it but if I step out in a space and look

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at the Sun with a telescope that sees
wavelengths that I can't see with my own

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eye this is what I see. This is the Sun
and extreme ultraviolet seen from the

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Solar Dynamics Observatory and you can
see it's so much more dynamic we have a

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huge explosion here this is billions of
tons of solar material blasting away

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from the earth that millions of miles an
hour called a coronal mass ejection

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filling the entire solar system we have
a flash of light, light through the

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entire electromagnetic spectrum from
radio all the way to gamma rays with

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enough power, enough energy to power the
world for a hundred thousand years

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that's called a solar flare and both of
those huge eruptions create massive

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shockwaves that accelerate particles at
near the speed of light and all of this

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stuff fills the solar system and
interacts with everything in it with

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planets with their atmospheres with
their magnetic fields if they have them

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with asteroids and comets but also with
the things and the people that we put

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into space with our spacecraft,
with our astronauts and so we want to be

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able to understand this, maybe even
predict it and have something similar to

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terrestrial whether. We actually call it
space weather but we want to be able to

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protect our assets and protect the
people as we send them back to the moon

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and beyond to Mars and because we have a
new initiative now a new program Artemis

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to go back to the moon to send the next
man and the first woman to step foot on

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the lunar surface we have a unique
opportunity. We can now do unique science

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from the moon in particular unique
science to understand this beast sitting

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at the inner in the beginning of us in
this in the center of our solar system

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and understand better the influence that
it has on us and protect those people

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that were sending to the moon and to
Mars

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so next slide please, this is actually a
really nice observation so here is the

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same spacecraft a different wavelength
but extreme ultraviolet but look you see

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this object move in front of it
okay that's the moon, that's the moon

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basically eclipsing the Sun we're seeing
this from space and in fact we can use

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this opportunity to learn things about
the moon itself these images are so

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detailed that when you see that shadow
come past what you're actually seeing is

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if you look at the bottom it's not
smooth right here there are little bumps

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on it you're actually seeing the moons
of your see... sorry you're seeing the

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mountains of the moon when you look at
this edge. So using a solar telescope

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we're actually learning something about
the moon but we can turn this around

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because the moon gives us a unique
perspective, next slide please

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we have some, we have a unique
opportunity because sitting on the

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surface of the Moon
we have no atmosphere, okay

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giving us the ability to observe these
wavelengths of light that we can't see

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from the ground on the earth because
they're stopped by our atmosphere those

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extreme ultraviolet or gamma rays or
x-rays and also the moon does not have a

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magnetic field because not only do we
see the light coming from the Sun all of

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those particles when they get to the
Earth are affected by the magnetic field

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of the Earth they actually create a very
interesting complicated environment for

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example creating the Van Allen radiation
belts which we have to deal with as we

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fly through them away from the Earth so
sitting on this object orbiting the

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earth we have a unique platform for us
to observe the Sun and to observe the

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environment around the Sun. We can look
at those huge blobs of material coronal

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mass ejections leaving the Sun. We can
study the particles as they're reaching

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the Earth as they pass by the Moon, so if
we go to the next slide please

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so what you're looking at here is the
same explosion that I showed you at the

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very beginning and we're gonna back away
from that, so you can see what happens

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when that object, those particles leave
the Sun we have this background of

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particles called the solar wind that's
always flowing away from the Sun and

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then on top of that you have this bigger
cluster of particles that coronal mass

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ejection traveling from the Sun through
the solar system and eventually

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interacting with objects in the solar
system, here we see it passing Venus and

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you'll notice the particles are actually
impinging the atmosphere of Venus

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directly because Venus doesn't have a
magnetic field

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so they're moving straight impacting the
atmosphere creating a unique environment

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and as they continue on and eventually
reach the Earth now you see the

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particles are actually moving around it
okay because the Earth's magnetic field

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is acting as a sort of force field
protecting to somewhat the Earth

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creating a very interesting and
complicated environment so when we sit

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on the Moon we don't have those aspects
we don't have the atmosphere we don't

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have the magnetic fields but there are a
couple of things that are unique about

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that environment, let's go to the next
slide, let's actually skip ahead I want

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to pass this one and just skip to this
so that magnetic field of the Earth and

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we're in this case the Sun is in this
direction as it's coming as all those

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particles are coming past us they're
stretching the magnetic field of the

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Earth creating this sort of elongated
almost tadpole like structure we call

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this the magnetosphere, there are
particles around it particles building

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up along the back part this is an
incredibly complicated environment that

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our spacecraft and the ISS is traveling
through but also in order to understand

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this we have a unique perspective with
the Moon because in fact the Moon as

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it's orbiting the Earth it's actually
passing in and out of this structure

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during the new moon when the Sun is over
there and the Moon is directly on the

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other side of the Earth it's actually
sitting right in here so for about six

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days the Moon orbits through the
magnetosphere and allows us to sample

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what's happening in this unique
environment and as the Moon moves around

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it we sample different parts of this
whole structure we see different

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characteristics different environments
and eventually for a full moon it's

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sitting over on this side almost
completely out

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what we call the magnetosphere so we
have this observing platform this

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natural observing platform that's moving
around the magnetosphere allowing us to

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sample this hazardous complicated space
that we have to travel through to

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measure the particles to measure the
electric and magnetic fields to measure

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the plasma created in this whole
structure and at the same time we're

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able to get a unique view of what's
happening coming from the Sun as we are

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orbiting moving with the Moon as it's
orbiting the Earth because again we have

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no atmosphere so now we can have very
large powerful telescopes that we don't

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have to put into a spacecraft we can
actually have on the body itself to

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allow us to study all that's happening
from the Sun in multiple wavelengths of

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light measuring different types of
particles different types of electric

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and magnetic fields structures to
ultimately understand this kind of this

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very complicated environment that we
have to travel through and that we have

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to ultimately live in as we bring people
to the Moon and someday on to Mars so

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the Moon is providing something for us
that is unique and exciting to allow us

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to understand the environment created by
the Sun and as we understand that not

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only do we get a better handle on how to
deal with it how to live with it how to

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travel through it but what we learn
about our own Sun ultimately tells us

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about other stars other solar systems
and the planets and bodies that are

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interacting with them so we're looking
forward to 2024 and beyond as we start

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to explore this new unique environment
to study our star and ultimately put

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other kinds of telescopes other kinds of
instruments to study other stars other

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aspects of not just our solar system but
the universe so thank you very much