Comcast, Discovery Networks and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Help More Than 100 Students Study the Sun

Comcast, Discovery Networks and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Help More Than 100 Students Study the Sun

Students From Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard Counties See 3-D Images; Howard County Council Member Guy Guzzone Will Offer Opening Remarks

LAUREL, Md., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast, Discovery Networks and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) are giving more than 100 middle school students from Old Mill Middle School North in Millersville, Havre de Grace Middle School in Havre de Grace, Edgewood Middle School in Edgewood, and Patuxent Valley Middle School in Jessup the chance to discover how and why scientists will take the first-ever three-dimensional images of the sun when they meet with engineers at APL during "Space Academy: STEREO Mission." This Space Academy will take place Friday, April 7, 2006, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at APL, located at 11100 Johns Hopkins Road in Laurel.

Students will learn how the nearly identical STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) observatories will provide the first-ever, 3-D "stereo" images of the sun that scientists will use to study powerful solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections - a major source of magnetic disruptions on Earth and a key component of space weather.

The event also includes a student press conference with space scientists, lunchtime discussions with space engineers, and hands-on science demonstrations. Students will also tour APL's space facilities where the twin observatories were built and tested.

Comcast, Discovery Networks and APL sponsor the "Space Academy" series to take students behind the scenes of actual space missions and introduce them to engineers and scientists who carry out some of NASA's projects. The hands-on, minds-on experience is designed to inspire both students and teachers.

APL, a division of the Johns Hopkins University, manages several NASA missions and has built and launched 62 spacecraft over the past four decades. The Space Academy series was created in 2000 and is sponsored by Comcast, Discovery Networks and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. This is the eleventh such event in the partnership.

About Comcast

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 21.4 million cable customers, 8.5 million high-speed Internet customers and 1.3 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's Eastern Division currently serves more than 5.6 million customers along the New York to DC corridor, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia, along with parts of California and Texas. The Eastern Division also founded and manages CN8, The Comcast Network, one of the nation's largest and most honored regional 24-hour diversified television networks, seen by more than seven million homes on the East Coast. The division is based in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, Inc. is the leading global real-world media company. Discovery has grown from its core property, the Discovery Channel, first launched in the United States in 1985, to current global operations in 170 countries and territories with nearly 1.4 billion cumulative subscribers. DCI's over 100 networks of distinctive programming represent 27 network entertainment brands, including TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Military Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Discovery en Espanol, Discovery Kids en Espanol, Discovery HD Theater, FitTV, Discovery Travel & Living (Viajar y Vivir), Discovery Home & Health and Discovery Real Time. DCI's other properties consist of Discovery Education and Discovery Commerce, which operates more than 100 Discovery Channel Stores in the U.S. DCI also distributes BBC America in the United States. DCI's ownership consists of four shareholders: Discovery Holding Company (NASDAQ:DISCA)(NASDAQ:DISCB); Cox Communications, Inc.; Advance/Newhouse Communications; and John S. Hendricks, the Company's Founder and Chairman.

Source: Comcast

CONTACT: Jim Gordon, Comcast, +1-410-371-2821 or
jim_gordon@cable.comcast.com

Web site: http://www.comcast.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information or to attend the event, please contact Kristi Marren at APL at (240) 228-6268 or (443) 778-6268. Media can also register on the Space Academy website, http://www.spaceacademy.jhuapl.edu/PressRoom/PressRegistration.php.

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