Hang the Transit of Venus on your wall! Hubble-quality images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory are now available as metallic posters in the Space Weather Store. | | | POLAR MAGNETIC STORMS: Auroras are dancing around the poles in response to a high-speed solar wind stream buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Stefan Christmann sends this picture from icy Atka Bay in Antarctica: "On July 1st we enjoyed a beautiful display of aurora australis over the German Antarctic Research Station Neumayer III" says Christmann. "The air temperature was -30°C with 10 knots of wind. Even so, this was one of the most beautiful expierences so far." NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued geomagnetic activity as the solar wind continues to blow. Aurora alerts: text, voice. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery MASSIVE PROMINENCE: Amateur astronomers around the world are monitoring a massive, active prominence dancing along the sun's southeastern limb. Andre van der Hoeven sends this picture from HI-Ambacht, the Netherlands: Prominences are filaments of magnetism filled with glowing-hot plasma. This beautiful "prom" rises more than 40,000 km above the stellar surface and stretches more than 20 Earth-diameters from end to end. Such structures are naturally unstable, and this one could collapse at any time. Keep and eye on the latest images for developments. Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery [previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011] 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 July 1, 2012 there were potentially hazardous asteroids. Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Mag. | Size | 2012 MY2 | Jun 29 | 1.3 LD | -- | 24 m | 2003 KU2 | Jul 15 | 40.2 LD | -- | 1.3 km | 2004 EW9 | Jul 16 | 46.8 LD | -- | 2.1 km | 2002 AM31 | Jul 22 | 13.7 LD | -- | 1.0 km | 37655 Illapa | Aug 12 | 37 LD | -- | 1.2 km | 2000 ET70 | Aug 21 | 58.5 LD | -- | 1.1 km | 1998 TU3 | Aug 25 | 49.2 LD | -- | 4.9 km | 2009 AV | Aug 26 | 62.8 LD | -- | 1.1 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | |