"SUN STORMS - THE SCIENCE OF SPACE WEATHER ERUPTIONS"
Most people are aware that our Sun is not a static star.
Transient phenomena, such as solar flares and sunspots, can have a dramatic
impact on our increasingly technological society, and have served as plot
devices in a number of space-related stories and films. Recently
there has been a major emphasis placed on the scientific exploration of
another impulsive solar phenomenon: Coronal Mass Ejections, dramatic eruptions
of solar magnetic field and plasma which hurl a billion tons of material
into our space environment on a nearly daily basis. As we venture
further into the space environment, and as we rely more and more on space-based
technologies, we must strive to predict the occurrence and mitigate the
consequences of these million-mile-an-hour space storms.