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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 359.1 km/sec
density: 7.3 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
1714 UT Aug04
24-hr: A4
0049 UT Aug04
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 04 Aug 18
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 04 Aug 2018

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 1 day
2018 total: 122 days (56%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)

Updated 04 Aug 2018


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 70 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 04 Aug 2018

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.1 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 04 Aug 18

A weak stream of solar wind flowing from this coronal hole could reach Earth on August 4th. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds The season for noctilucent clouds in he northern hemisphere is underway. Check here daily for the latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 08-04-2018 19:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2018 Aug 04 2200 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: 2018 Aug 04 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
25 %
25 %
 
Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018
What's up in space
       
 

All-inclusive Northern Lights trips in Tromsø, Norway. Small groups, big experiences! Highly qualified guides ensure unique and unforgettable adventures with a personal touch. Visit Explore the Arctic

 

A BRIGHT METEOR OVER GREENLAND: Some media outlets are reporting a meteor strike near the USA's Thule Air Base in Greenland on July 25th. Why hasn't the US Air Force said anything about it? Probably because the impactor was a fairly routine space rock--not a nuclear missile. "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait lays out the facts in this excellent article.

DYING COMET PANSTARRS: Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 S3) was supposed to become a naked-eye object in August as it swooped past the sun closer than Mercury. It's not going to happen. Instead of brightening the icy comet, fierce solar heat is destroying it.  Michael Jaeger sends this video, recorded August 1st, from Jauerling, Austria:

"The comet is just a remnant of its former self," says Jaeger. "It is fading, becoming more diffuse and elongated each time I look."

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 S3) was discovered on Sept. 23, 2017, by astronomers using the PanSTARRS telescope on the Haleakalā volcano in Maui. At the time, it was  falling toward the sun from the Oort cloud, a vast reservoir of fresh comets in the distant outer solar system. The approaching comet appeared to be packed with volatile ices that would react flamboyantly to solar heat--ultimately creating a naked-eye display.


Click to launch an interactive 3D visualization of the comet's orbit from JPL

However, all of the flamboyant action occurred last month while Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 S3) was still outside the orbit of Earth. The comet exploded twice in July, each time surging in brightness without crossing the threshold of naked-eye visibility. Exploding twice takes a toll on a comet, and now it is falling apart.

"Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 S3) is now a 9th magnitude object,"says Jaeger.  That means it is still a good target for backyard telescopes--but not for long. The comet's close approach to the sun is on August 16th, and it may not survive the encounter. Stay tuned.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery

CRYSTAL EARTH GLOBE AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: On August 2, 2018, art met science 101,534 feet above Earth's surface. Here's what happened:

The students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere, and this crystal globe went along for the ride. The young scientists  wanted to see what Earth looked like when viewed through the spherical lens ... of Earth. Answer: very cool.

You can have this globe for $149.95. The students are selling them to support their high-altitude balloon program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the crystal sphere in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. All sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

  All Sky Fireball Network
Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Aug. 4, 2018, the network reported 53 fireballs.
(28 sporadics, 19 Perseids, 5 Southern delta Aquariids, 1 alpha Capricornid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

  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 August 4, 2018 there were 1912 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2018 OZ
2018-Aug-06
7 LD
9.7
36
2018 LQ2
2018-Aug-27
9.4 LD
1.5
39
2016 GK135
2018-Aug-28
16.8 LD
2.8
9
2016 NF23
2018-Aug-29
13.3 LD
9
93
1998 SD9
2018-Aug-29
4.2 LD
10.7
51
2018 DE1
2018-Aug-30
15.2 LD
6.5
28
2001 RQ17
2018-Sep-02
19.3 LD
8.3
107
2015 FP118
2018-Sep-03
12.3 LD
9.8
490
2017 SL16
2018-Sep-20
8.5 LD
6.4
25
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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:


Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

  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
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
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