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Switch to: Europe, USA, New
Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp=
2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4 unsettled
explanation | more
data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.1
nT
Bz: 1.9
nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 0045
UT
Coronal Holes: 18 Jun 18
Solar wind flowing from this northern coronal hole is grazing Earth's magnetic field today. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds The season for northern noctilucent clouds is beginning now. Check here daily for the latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 06-18-2018 15:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts |
|
Updated at: 2018 Jun 18 2200 UTC
FLARE |
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
CLASS M |
01
% |
01
% |
CLASS X |
01
% |
01
% |
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant
disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor
storm, severe
storm
Updated at: 2018 Jun 18 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
30
% |
20
% |
MINOR |
10
% |
05
% |
SEVERE |
01
% |
01
% |
High latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
15
% |
20
% |
MINOR |
30
% |
30
% |
SEVERE |
40
% |
25
% |
|
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|
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SOLAR WIND QUICKENS: Earth is moving deeper into a stream of solar wind that arrived during the early hours of June 18th. This is causing the solar wind near our planet to quicken, blowing faster than 500 km/s (1.1 million mph). High latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras, especially in the southern hemisphere where winter darkness favors visibility. Free: Aurora Alerts.
AURORAS AND NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Last night, two things happened in the atmosphere high above Canada. First, a swarm of frosted meteoroids caught the rays of the setting sun, creating a noctilucent cloud. Second, the solar wind arrived. "Auroras formed above the noctilicent clouds," says eyewitness Adrien Mauduit. "What a show!" He caught the combo reflected in a lake near Bashaw, Alberta:
"What a night full of incredible surprises and our cameras full of pictures," says Mauduit. "We are hoping for a rerun tonight!"
A rerun is possible. NASA's AIM spacecraft shows noctilucent cloud activity intensifying around the northern hemisphere. At the same time, Earth is moving deeper into the stream of solar wind that sparked last night's display. Monitor the realtime photo gallery for sightings:
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
ONE RING TO RULE THE STRATOSPHERE: The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are about to fly from California to New Zealand to launch a trio of cosmic ray balloons over Earth's 8th continent. To get ready, on June 12th they launched a ring of power to the stratosphere. Here it is floating 33 km above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have one for $119.95. The students are selling these Tolkien-inspired rings as a fundraiser for their trip. They are made of golden-colored tungsten and inscribed with the authentic Mordor script of the One Ring.
Buy one now, and we will fly it again for you over Hobbiton, located in the North Island of New Zealand where our cosmic ray balloons will be released. Just note "Please fly it again!" in the comments section at checkout.
Each golden ring comes with a greeting card showing the ring in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: This weekend, the crescent Moon passed by Venus in the sunset sky. Marek Nikodem photographed the conjunction on June 16th from Znin Lake near Szubin, Poland:
"It was an amazing evening," says Nikodem. "A great way to end the day!"
Did you miss the show? It's going to happen again--even better--in mid July. On July 15th, after passing by Mercury the night before, the crescent Moon will skim past Venus with less than 1 degree of sky separating the two heavenly bodies. Mark your calendar and enjoy the show. Sky maps: July 14, 15, 16.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Every night, a network
of NASA
all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United
States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software
maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office
calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth
in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics.
Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.
On Jun. 18, 2018, the network reported 19 fireballs.
(19 sporadics)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids ( PHAs)
are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that
can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the
known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet,
although astronomers are finding new
ones all the time.
On June 19, 2018 there were 1912 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2018 MJ |
2018-Jun-13 |
4.2 LD |
9.4 |
29 |
| 2018 LD1 |
2018-Jun-14 |
1.6 LD |
11 |
19 |
| 2018 LV3 |
2018-Jun-15 |
0.9 LD |
11.1 |
18 |
| 2018 LK |
2018-Jun-15 |
7.7 LD |
12.4 |
162 |
| 2018 LN4 |
2018-Jun-16 |
16.5 LD |
14.6 |
61 |
| 2018 LF1 |
2018-Jun-16 |
15.6 LD |
14 |
47 |
| 2018 LD4 |
2018-Jun-17 |
14.8 LD |
9.3 |
39 |
| 2018 KC3 |
2018-Jun-19 |
14.6 LD |
8.8 |
87 |
| 2018 LA6 |
2018-Jun-19 |
10.2 LD |
11 |
16 |
| 2018 MK |
2018-Jun-20 |
7.5 LD |
17.1 |
53 |
| 2018 MA |
2018-Jun-21 |
19.2 LD |
16.6 |
49 |
| 2018 LX5 |
2018-Jun-21 |
5.2 LD |
11.7 |
31 |
| 2018 LS5 |
2018-Jun-21 |
6.5 LD |
9 |
16 |
| 2017 YE5 |
2018-Jun-21 |
15.6 LD |
15.5 |
513 |
| 467309 |
2018-Jun-23 |
17.9 LD |
14 |
355 |
| 441987 |
2018-Jun-24 |
7.3 LD |
12.6 |
178 |
| 2018 LD3 |
2018-Jun-24 |
19.9 LD |
14.2 |
69 |
| 2018 LN2 |
2018-Jun-28 |
10.5 LD |
9.4 |
88 |
| 2018 LR3 |
2018-Jun-29 |
6 LD |
3.8 |
19 |
| 2018 LT6 |
2018-Jul-01 |
11.6 LD |
13 |
126 |
| 2018 LJ1 |
2018-Jul-01 |
13.9 LD |
2.7 |
18 |
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on
the date of closest approach.
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Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:
This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.
What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:
Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.
The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.
The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
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The
official U.S. government space weather bureau |
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The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
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Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
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3D
views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Relations Observatory |
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Realtime
and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
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from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
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from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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the
underlying science of space weather |
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©2017 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. |
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