Public lecture on space weather at the BlueDot Festival, Jodrell Bank, Cheshire.

Disaster! Space weather on the big screen

Hollywood loves a good disaster movie, but if Earth-bound catastrophes are looking a bit
tame, producers can always rely on calamities from space to entertain audiences. While
alien invasions and killer asteroids have packed cinemas for decades, solar disasters are an
increasingly popular theme in television and movie plotlines. From devasting solar flares to
explosions in the Earth’s radiation belts, scriptwriters have devised a myriad of apocalyptic
scenarios to challenge heroic scientists, astronauts and presidents. But is there any credible
threat behind these disastrous tales? Can solar activity really threaten life on Earth? Join
Prof Jim Wild as he explores the science behind “space weather” on and off screen. Don’t
forget your tin foil hat!