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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 517.5 km/sec
density: 6.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A8
2105 UT Sep01
24-hr: A8
2105 UT Sep01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 31 Aug 07
A new sunspot (denoted by '?') is emerging while sunspot 969 has suddenly started to grow. Both regions merit watching. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 14
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 31 Aug 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Sep 01 2119 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.7 nT
Bz: 1.8 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Aug. 31st or Sept. 1st. Credit: STEREO-B Extreme Ultraviolet Imager
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Sep 01 2203 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: 2007 Sep 01 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
35 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
30 %
MINOR
20 %
15 %
SEVERE
10 %
10 %
What's up in Space
September 1, 2007
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. .

AURORA WATCH: Sky watchers at high latitudes should be alert for auroras tonight. Earth is entering a solar wind stream and the encounter could spark mild geomagnetic storms.

METEOR FLURRY: Congratulations to Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and colleagues who predicted this morning's Aurigid meteor shower. It materialized right on time in a sharp peak shortly before 1130 UT or 4:30 am PDT. In Guffey, Colorado, Chris Peterson video-recorded a spectacular fireball:

The glaring light beneath the meteor is the Moon, which shows just how bright this Aurigid was.

Positive reports of meteor activity have been received from observers in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, California, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and western Canada. In southern Alberta, Alan Dyer snapped this picture of a fabulous Aurigid just before sunrise. " This one left a train that persisted for about a minute as it dispersed in the high-altitude winds," he says. Stay tuned for more photos and reports.

Aurigid Photo Gallery
[Interactive Map of Aurigid Sightings]

LISTEN! In New Mexico, amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft operates an 83 MHz forward scatter meteor radar. His system records echos of distant radio stations from the hot trails of disintegrating meteoroids; "I have merged my forward scatter array with an all-sky camera and am now capturing fireballs with sound," says Ashcraft. So, turn up the volume and click here to see and hear an Aurigid fireball recorded just before daybreak on Sept. 1st.

OVER THE HORIZON: Yesterday in Mexico, Julia Canizalez was observing the sun from the University of Sonora's Carl Sagan Solar Observatory when, suddenly, the western limb of the sun erupted:

The cloud she photographed was hurled upward from a point over the sun's horizon; the blast site was thus hidden. Or was it? For the first time in history, we can see over the horizon. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is orbiting the sun about 45 million km ahead of Earth allowing it to peek 16o of longitude farther west. Here is what Stereo-A saw. The eruption began as a vast, curtain-shaped magnetic instability which rippled and surged and hurled a cloud high enough to be seen from Mexico. Later, the SOHO spacecraft observed a CME slowly billowing away from the sun.

The STEREO mission is just beginning, but already it is giving us a new perspective on the sun. Out of sight? No, it's just over the horizon.


Lunar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[Night-sky Cameras] [Interactive Eclipse Map]

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 September 1, 2007 there were 880 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2007 FV42
July 2
53 LD
15
1.2 km
2007 MB4
July 4
7.6 LD
16
130 m
2007 DT103
July 29
9.3 LD
15
550 m
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 Links
NOAA Space Environment Center
  The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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