WASHINGTON - A NASA Science Update at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 21 will be held to discuss never-before-seen observations from an international mission studying the sun. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E Street, S.W., Washington. It will air live on NASA Television and www.nasa.gov.

The Hinode spacecraft, Japanese for "sunrise," launched in September 2006 to study the sun's magnetic field and how its explosive energy propagates through the different layers of the solar atmosphere. The spacecraft was known previously as Solar B.

Panelists will be: -- Richard Fisher, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters -- Alan Title, senior fellow, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif., and consulting professor of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. -- Leon Golub, senior astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. -- Judith Karpen, research astrophysicist, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington

Panelists will answer questions from journalists at participating NASA locations. Reporters should call their preferred field center to confirm participation availability.

For more information about Hinode, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/solar-b

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv