Hi Brooke,

While a lot of the scientists who participate in Solar Week are solar physicists who study the Sun, my area of specialization is actually magnetospheric physics. I study the Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere, to help us gain a better understanding of space weather phenomena like geomagnetic storms, the aurora borealis, and the Van Allen radiation belts. I mostly use data from satellites orbiting the Earth that directly measure electric and magnetic fields, as well as high energy electrons in my research. I've only used solar data when I've taught astronomy and when I've needed to determine the causes of the geomagnetic activity I see in the Earth's magnetosphere. I've also done a little bit of work testing instruments for sounding rockets. You can read about the rockets by clicking on the "Blogs" tab, or going to this URL: http://www.solarweek.org/...st_blog/default.aspx

If I were to do another job, other than be a space scientist who studies the magnetosphere, I would be an aerospace or mechanical engineer. I've been interested in aviation and space exploration ever since I saw the Apollo 17 lunar mission on the launch pad when I was a child. I think it would be really exciting to design satellites or airplanes. Some space scientists are involved in designing instruments for satellites, but many satellite systems and the launch vehicles that carry satellites into orbit are designed by engineers.

Kris