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The Dark Side of the Sun

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What would happen if the sun took out our electrical power grid for an entire year? It may sound like the plot of a sci-fi movie, but this doomsday scenario could actually happen. Despite its calm appearance, the sun is a violent place, constantly releasing huge masses of energy known as coronal mass ejections. These storms have hit the earth before. The last big one struck more than 150 years ago in the Victorian era taking out worldwide telegraph service. The impact of a similar storm would be far more destructive in our modern age of hyper-connected telecommunication and total reliance on electricity and electronics.  Fortunately, scientists and engineers are building the world’s largest solar telescope and launching the first ever spacecraft to fly to the sun to help us predict these potentially devastating events – and prepare for them.

 

Premiering as the centerpiece of Science Channel Weekend on Discovery Channel, THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN tells the story of our growing awareness of the true nature of our star, its critical importance to all life on Earth, and its potentially harmful effects on modern civilization. Narrated by Grammy®- and Emmy®-winning and Oscar®-nominated artist Sting and directed by twice Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn (“My Architect,” “Two Hands,”) and award winning filmmaker Paul Bozymowski (“Generation Astronaut,” “Sting: When the Last Sails,” and produced by Academy® and Emmy® Award-winning production company RadicalMedia (“What Happened, Miss Simone?” THE DARK SIDE OF THE SUN, premieres Saturday, February 11 at 10pm ET/PT.  Science Channel will broadcast the film the following evening at 9pm ET/PT.  In addition, throughout the weekend, Discovery will air Science themed programming including last year’s “Telescope,” “Mythbusters,” “Mythbusters: The Search,” and “What on Earth?”