Joe Hirman, deputy chief of the Space Environment Services Centre (SESC), Boulder, Colorado, poses by one of the Center's solar telescopes. Operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administr- ation, the SESC is one of only four places in the world that forecast solar weather & its impact on Earth. Sunstorms can dramatically affect life on Earth; geomagnetic storms cause power surges, disrupt telecommunications & interfere with navig- ational systems. The Center can alert the world to an impending magnetic storm within minutes. Solar activity is continuously monitored via a network of magnetometers, cosmic ray detectors, ground- based solar telescopes, and orbiting satellites.