The department of astronomy and space, in collaboration with Ibn Sina unit for e-learning and the continuing education unit at the college of science has organized recently a virtual lecture entitled “The health effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and ways of protection” delivered by the head of physicists from the Center for Aerospace Sciences at the ministry of science and technology Dr. Ahmed Ali, with the participation of a number of postgraduate students and those concerned with physical and medical affairs from inside and outside the college.
The aim of the lecture is to identify this form of radiation emitted by the sun in the form of long (UVA), medium (UVB) or short (UVC) bundles of wavelengths, and its passage to the layers of the atmosphere, particularly the ozone layer of the stratosphere (which is the second layer of the earth’s atmosphere), as well as its absorption and reaching to the earth’s surface in the form of (UVA) or (UVB) radiation. The lecturer tried to study this topic in light of the geographical location of Iraq, pointing out that our country extends between the latitude circles (29-37) north, pointing out that the intensity of the ultraviolet radiation is very high there, especially in the central and southern regions, stressing that it is very important to monitor solar radiation within this ultraviolet spectral beam, for its great health effects on human beings, stressing that exposure to the sun for a long time causes sunburn and some forms of skin cancer, as well as its serious and chronic health effects on the skin, eye and the immune system.