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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: 315.5 km/s
density:
3.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C1 1745 UT May04
24-hr: C1 1745 UT May04
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 04 May '06

None of these sunspots pose a threat for strong solar flares. solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI.


Sunspot Number: 52
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 03 May 2006

Far Side of the Sun

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 10.2 nT
Bz:
7.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind gust flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on May 5th or 6th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope


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 May 04 2203 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 May 04 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 40 %
MINOR 15 % 20 %
SEVERE 05 % 10 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 30 %
MINOR 20 % 30 %
SEVERE 10 % 15 %

What's Up in Space -- 4 May 2006
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Roses. Candy. Spatulas? Make that the stars: Spaceweather PHONE for Mother's Day.

METEOR SHOWER: Earth is about to pass through a stream of dust from Halley's Comet, and this will produce the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. It peaks on Saturday morning, May 6th: full story.

RETREATING SUNSPOT: Sunspot 875 is approaching the sun's western limb where it will soon disappear over the edge--perhaps forever. Today, photographer Greg Piepol caught it "putting on one last show." He took this picture using an H-alpha filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen:

The sunspot should remain visible for another day or so. Ironically, the view could improve as it approaches the edge. Magnetic force fields jutting above the 'spot into the black space beyond could produce some lovely prominences. Stay tuned!

more images: from Jack Newton of Osoyoos, British Columbia.

COMET NEWS: Comet 73P/Schwassmann Wachmann has now crumbled into more than 60 fragments. With so many little comets flying through space, at any given moment one is bound to be flying by something. Take last night, for example, when Italian astronomers Aletti Aletti and Buzzi Luca saw this through their 3-inch telescope:

On the left is comet fragment B. On the right is M13, a cluster of 100,000 stars. The two were close enough to fit in the eyepiece of a small telescope. What's next? Fragment C will pass by the Ring Nebula on May 7th: sky map. Don't miss it!

more images: from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Masa Nakamura of Otawara, Tochigi, Japan; from Jack Newton of Osoyoos, British Columbia.



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 4 May 2006 there were 785 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

May 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 HU50

May 4

3.8 LD

17

~50 m
2006 HX57

May 6

3.0 LD

16

~45 m
Comet 73P-C

May 12

31 LD

4

~1 km
2006 GY2

May 16

6.7 LD

13+

~0.8 km
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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