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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 378.5 km/s
density:
5.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A1 2045 UT Mar02
24-hr: A1 2045 UT Mar02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 02 Mar '06

With no spots on the Earth-facing side of the sun, solar activity should remain low. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 01 Mar 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.2 nT
Bz:
0.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

SOHO ultraviolet images of the sun are temporarily unavailable. Why? The telescope's CCD camera is being baked out.


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2006 Mar 02 2204 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 2006 Mar 02 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 15 % 15 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 2 Mar 2006
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SOLAR MINIMUM: In February, the sun did something remarkable--nothing. Solar activity dipped to a 10-year low while sunspots were nowhere to be found on 21 of February's 28 days. Solar minimum has truly arrived.

SOLAR PROMINENCE: Amateur astronomer John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine, is enjoying solar minimum just fine, thank you. Yesterday he noticed a spectacular solar prominence and took its picture:

Prominences are glowing clouds of mostly hydrogen held aloft by solar magnetic force fields. This one has been around for more than two days and will probably persist for a few days more. If you have a safely-filtered solar telescope, take a look.

more images: from Mila Zinkova of San Francisco, California; from Michel Hersen of Portland, Oregon;

MORNING COMET: Comet Pojmanski isn't very bright, but it is pretty. You can see it, barely, with your naked eye during the hour or so before dawn. Look east: sky map. Better yet, point your camera and take a long exposure. 90-seconds is enough to make a beautiful print:

"I took this picture of Comet Pojmanski and Venus from my home on Storm Mountain," says Darrell Spangler of Drake Colorado. "The tail was much larger and impressive than I expected, making for a wonderful sunrise photo."

more images: from Stewart Leffanue near Adelaide, Australia.



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 2 Mar 2006 there were 774 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Feb. 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
(meters)
2006 BM55

Feb. 5

8.4 LD

17

~110 m
2006 BX39

Feb. 10

8.2 LD

16

~225 m
2006 DQ14

Feb. 22

5.2 LD

19

~16 m
2006 DR14

Feb. 23

3.0 LD

17

~25 m
Notes: LD is a "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 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. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

Daily images from the sun -- from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email

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