Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Solar physics / Space weather:
Stories for all audiencesRobert Irion, Director
Science Communication Program
University of California, Santa Cruz
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Stories about the sun have a built-in public audience
• We all see and feel the sun; it’s the only sensory astronomical body
• It’s the most-observed object in space
• Spectacular images; dynamic impacts
• The audience: Everyone!
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Space weather is a natural, compelling detective story
• Unraveling complex, mysterious events
• Searching for clues, both visible and hidden (to our eyes)
• Figuring out cause and effect
• Preparing for possible calamity
• Lots of verbs; editors love verbs
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Solar images and movies: Amazing!
• Solar Dynamics Observatory
• Ground-based adaptive optics
• Aurorae
• Space weather simulations
We now live in a visual media environment
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
“Something New Under the Sun,” Smithsonian, April 2011
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
First published Dec. 2010 (cover) Smithsonian space collection
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Good stories have vivid characters
Karel SchrijverLockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics LaboratoryPalo Alto, Calif.
“When we show these movies to our colleagues for the first time, the professional expression is generally, ‘Whoa!’”
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Good stories have vivid characters
Philip ScherrerStanford University
“We fundamentally don’t know.”
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Space weather impacts: Inevitable. We’re vulnerable.
• 2008 National Research Council Report• “The space around us isn’t as benign, friendly, and
accommodating to our technology as we had assumed.” —Karel Schrijver
• “The Sun is a highly variable star. We live in its outer atmosphere, and the cyber-electric cocoon that surrounds Earth is subject to its whims. We’d better come to terms with that.” —Daniel Baker / U. Colorado
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Scientists are people, too. Readers like to see that.
• Be available to reporters
• Share your stories, your frustrations, your revelations
• Convey why this research matters to you, and why it should matter to us
• Keep your audience in mind
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
Please: Avoid plasma magnetohydrodynamics
• Use analogies and metaphors, especially for younger audiences
• We’re figuring out how a star works; that’s irresistible
• Have visuals at hand; reporters will “get it,” and readers will pass them along
Robert Irion / SWEF 201121 June 2011
Space weather
gets a ton of
coverage!Knight Science
Journalism Tracker, June 8, 2011
ksjtracker.mit.edu
Associated Press, Washington Post,
Space.com, National Geographic News, USA Today, Sky &
Telescope, etc.
Robert Irion / [email protected] / 21 June 2011
AAS Solar Physics Division
news
Knight Science Journalism Tracker,
June 15, 2011ksjtracker.mit.edu
Time, AP, New York Times, MSNBC, Discover, New
Scientist, Science News, LA Times, Telegraph (UK),
Register (UK), AFP, and many more
