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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 385.9 km/sec
density: 4.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C4
2152 UT Nov01
24-hr: C4
2152 UT Nov01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 01 Nov 11
A large sunspot is emerging at the circled location. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 112
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 31 Oct 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 31 Oct 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 138 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 31 Oct 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= 5
storm
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.7 nT
Bz: 0.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 01 Nov 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Nov 01 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
60 %
60 %
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 Nov 01 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
05 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
05 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011
What's up in space
 

Metallic photos of the sun by renowned photographer Greg Piepol bring together the best of art and science. Buy one or a whole set. They make a stellar gift.

 
Metallic pictures of the Sun

SOLAR ACTIVITY IN THE OFFING: A big sunspot is emerging over the sun's NE limb. Yesterday it unleashed an M1-class solar flare (SDO movie) and hurled a coronal mass ejection into space. Geoeffective solar activity could increase in the days ahead as the sun's rotation turns the sunspot toward Earth.

HALLOWEEN TRICKS: A solar wind stream brushed against Earth's magnetic field on Oct. 30-31, sparking auroras around the Arctic Circle. Noting that "not everything is as it seems on the eve of Halloween," photographer Christina Hammock captured "this tropical aurora scene at the top of the ice sheet in Greenland." (continued below)

Hammock works at Summit Station, an NSF-supported climate research facility. "We have a pink flamingo stuck outside the station," she explains. "I made the cardboard cut-out of a palm tree especially for this occasion. (Actually, I've been waiting for the right conditions for this photo. The auroras needed to be low enough in the sky to silhouette the tropical scene and the winds had to be low enough not to blow the tree around.)"

"Behind the palm trees and flamingos, the aurora were dancing all over the south eastern sky," Hammock continues. "We had swirls, pillars, and curves forming so distinctly that it looked like someone was painting them over the stars as we watched. Not even the -57F (-49C) temperatures could keep us from laying on our backs on the snow to watch the show in awe." Aurora alerts: text, voice.

more Halloween auroras: from Paul Beebe of Upsala, Ontario, Canada; from B.Art Braafhart of Salla, Finnish-Lapland; from Antti Pietikäinen of Muonio, Lapland, Finland; from Göran Fredriksson of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden; from Ulf Jonsson of Luleå, Norrbotten, Sweden

October 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Octobers: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002]

HALLOWEEN TREATS: What's bettter than candy on Halloween? Hint: It's pumpkin-colored and the skeleton is leaning against it:

Amateur astronomer Tom Wagner of Waterloo, Iowa, explains: "Years ago I ran out of candy on Halloween. Not wanting to disappoint the trick or treaters--or myself--I came up with an alternative. I set up my telescope (pictured above) and point it at the moon for them to see. One little goblin exclaimed as he saw the Moon, This is better than candy! His mother agreed. Tonight a little girl talked about how she never knew the Moon had 'holes' in it. This has become a Halloween tradition."

  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 November 1, 2011 there were 1256 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 UX255
Oct 28
0.4 LD
--
15 m
2011 FZ2
Nov 7
75.9 LD
--
1.6 km
2005 YU55
Nov 8
0.8 LD
--
200 m
2011 UT91
Nov 15
9.9 LD
--
102 m
1994 CK1
Nov 16
68.8 LD
--
1.5 km
1996 FG3
Nov 23
39.5 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 WM7
Dec 9
47.6 LD
--
1.6 km
1999 XP35
Dec 20
77.5 LD
--
1.0 km
2000 YA
Dec 26
2.9 LD
--
80 m
2011 SL102
Dec 28
75.9 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.
  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
Science Central
 
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  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
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