You are viewing the page for Jun. 1, 2011
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 503.8 km/sec
density: 0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2340 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C4
1709 UT Jun01
24-hr: C4
1709 UT Jun01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 01 Jun 11
Sunspot complex 1226-1227 poses a threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 132
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 31 May 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 31 May 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 112 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 31 May 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz: 2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 01 Jun 11
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on or about June 4th. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jun 01 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
10 %
CLASS X
05 %
05 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2011 Jun 01 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
 
Wednesday, Jun. 1, 2011
What's up in space
 

Are we alone? Your iPhone has the answer. Download the all-new Drake Equation app to calculate the population of the Milky Way.

 
DrakeEQ for iPhone and iPad

RARE ECLIPSE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN: A solar eclipse in the middle of the night? Yes, it can happen. Sky watchers in the Arctic will witness such an event on June 1st when the Moon partially eclipses the midnight sun. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

ENDEAVOUR HAS LANDED: Space shuttle Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Center this morning, June 1st, at 2:35 a.m. EDT, concluding a two week mission to the ISS. During the flight, crewmembers delivered a dark matter physics experiment to the space station that could, in time, transform our understanding of the cosmos--a nice punctuation mark for Endeavour's 19 years of service. Next up for the shuttle: retirement at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

"This really is the end of an era," says John E Cordiale who photographed a spectacular "farewell flyby" of Endeavour (alonside the ISS) over his hometown of Queensbury, New York:

"I will always remember this event fondly and feel lucky to have witnessed it," he says.

Browse the links for more farewell flybys: from Mark Strollo of Waterford, CT; from Tamas Ladanyi of Tihany (Hungary); from Louis Suarato of Esperance, NY; from Trevor Allen of Halifax, Nova Scotia; from Michael Boschat of Halifax, Nova Scotia; from Marsha Adams of Sedona, Arizona; from Bob Thompson of Prescott, Arizona; from Mark A. Brown of Carlisle, PA; from Paul M. Hadfield of Decatur, IL; from Achim Schaller of Freiburg, Southern Rhine Valley, Germany;

SOUTH POLE AURORAS: Earth is exiting a solar wind stream that sparked colorful auroras on May 28th-30th. At the height of the display, Southern Lights over the geographic south pole became so bright, "they were tricky to photograph without overexposure," reports J. Dana Hrubes, science leader at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. "The ice surface as well as the 10m primary mirror of the South Pole Telescope were well illuminated." (continued below)

"When I went outside to take these pictures on May 30th, the air temperature was about -94 F (-70 C)," says Hrubes. "Just days earlier, the temperature had dropped all the way to -103.4 F (-75.2 C), so the aurora photo-shoot was relatively warm."

Photographers at the South Pole, bundle up! Another solar wind stream is due to arrive on or about June 4th. Its impact could trigger renewed geomagnetic activity, and you might want to go outside. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

more images: from Brian Larmay of Pembine, Wisconsin; from Minoru Yoneto of Queenstown, New Zealand; from Neva Andersen of Saint Cloud, Minnesota; from Dave Curtis of Dunedin, New Zealand; from Ian Stewart of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; from Tom Luttrell of Mount Nelson Signal Station, Hobart, Tasmania; from Beatrice van Eden of Antarctica;


April 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]

  Near Earth Asteroids
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 1, 2011 there were 1224 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 KG13
May 24
3.2 LD
--
31 m
2002 JC
Jun 1
57.5 LD
--
1.6 km
2009 BD
Jun 2
0.9 LD
--
10 m
2011 KE15
Jun 3
3.7 LD
--
18 m
2011 KV15
Jun 5
8.3 LD
--
25 m
2002 JB9
Jun 11
71.5 LD
--
3.2 km
2001 VH75
Jun 12
42.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2004 LO2
Jun 15
9.9 LD
--
48 m
2011 GA55
Jul 6
64.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2011 EZ78
Jul 10
37.3 LD
--
1.5 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 km
2007 DD
Jul 23
9.3 LD
--
31 m
2009 AV
Aug 22
49.7 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 QC10
Sep 18
50 LD
--
1.2 km
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.
  Essential web links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Conquest Graphics
  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
Trade Show Displays
  SpaceWeather.com sponsor
Science Central
  SpaceWeather.com sponsor
  more links...
©2010 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.