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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: 386.9 km/s
density:
3.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2238 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C1 2205 UT Dec02
24-hr: C1 2205 UT Dec02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 02 Dec '06

Sunspot 926 is growing rapidly and may be bifurcating into two, magnetically distinct sunspots. Credit:
SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 58
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 01 Dec 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals a large sunspot on the far side of the sun. It is probably old sunspot 923. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.3 nT
Bz:
1.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2238 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth as early as Dec. 6th. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.


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 Dec 02 2204 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 05 % 05 %
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 Dec 02 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 15 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 15 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 2 Dec 2006
Subscribe to Space Weather News

Did you sleep through the auroras of November? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

SUNSPOT 926: Got a solar telescope? Keep an eye on sunspot 926. The active region is growing rapidly and may be in the process of splitting into two magnetically-distinct spots. Watching planet-sized magnetic islands transform before your very eyes is good entertainment!

MOON EXPLOSION: On Nov. 17th, astronomers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) watched a Leonid meteoroid hit the Moon and explode like 300 lbs of TNT. In this video, it's the pointlike flash just left of Mare Crisium:

The explosion was about as bright as an 8th magnitude star, an easy target for backyard telescopes. The NASA group used a 14-inch Meade RCX400. Remarkably, such a flash occurs about once every four hours. "The Moon is being hit by meteoroids more often than we expected," says Bill Cooke of the MSFC's Meteoroid Environment Office. The Moon is literally sparkling! Get the full story from Science@NASA.

AND THE WINNER IS... Phillip Jones of Dallas, Texas. He won 1st place in the Transit of Mercury Photo Contest with this spectacular H-alpha image:

"I took the picture through a Coronado SolarMax90 set up at the University of Texas-Dallas campus," he says. "We displayed a live video feed of the transit on my laptop for students and faculty to see."

The Contest: Complete Results



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 Dec 2006 there were 835 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Dec 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 WQ127

Dec. 2

7.9 LD

19

~94 m
2006 WB

Dec. 5

7.0 LD

17

~130 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.

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.

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: (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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


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