Spann, a physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Science Directorate in Huntsville, Ala., is a co-investigator on the orbiting UltraViolet Imager project. The imager is designed to help scientists measure and understand space storms.
The UltraViolet Imager is a small camera which, from its vantage point in space, produces images of the ultraviolet light of the aurora. The aurora is caused by a storm of high speed particles resulting from solar flares or huge gas bubbles hurled from the Sun.
Spann will present the latest information from the imager in his discussion titled "Evidence for Directly Driven Auroral Signatures Resulting From Interplanetary Pressure Points." The presentation will be at 2:45 p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 2 in room CC207 in the John B. Hynes Convention Center.
The UltraViolet Imager is one of 11 instruments on board NASA's Polar satellite launched in 1996 to study how space storms develop and affect Earth's space environment.
The imager was designed and built at the Marshall Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
For more information on the imager or to view its latest images, visit the following Website: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov
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