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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 464.1 km/sec
density: 3.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
1805 UT Sep05
24-hr: A2
1805 UT Sep05
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 05 Sep 07
Sunspot 970 was on the verge of disappearing yesterday, but it is staging a comeback today, tripling in size in only 24 hours. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 14
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 03 Sep 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Sep 05 2120 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 0.5 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Sept. 6th. Credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Sep 05 2203 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: 2007 Sep 05 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
25 %
MINOR
20 %
10 %
SEVERE
10 %
05 %
What's up in Space
September 5, 2007
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. .

SATURDAY MORNING: Mark your calendar and set your alarm. On Saturday morning, Sept. 8th, "morning star" Venus reaches its greatest brilliancy of the year as the slender crescent Moon glides by--a beautiful ensemble! Look east just before sunrise: sky map.

MARTIAN DUST STORMS: The vast and angry dust storms that have been raging around Mars since late June are subsiding, and as the air clears the surface of Mars is showing through once again. "Meridiani Planum, where Mars rover Opportunity is located, is finally visible," reports Jim Melka who took this picture on Aug. 31st using his 12-inch telescope in Chesterfield, Missouri.

"The bright dust cloud that's been overhead for over a month has greatly diminished," he says. "However, dust clouds are still being produced where it all started at the eastern end of Valles Marineris--see the arrows. Fierce winds in this canyon are probably uplifting the dust. These clouds could expand again to threaten Opportunity."

Amateur astronomers can monitor the situation. Mars rises in the east at midnight, bright and red, and its dust clouds are visible in backyard telescopes: sky map.

more images: from Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands

METEOR OUTBURST: "What an adventure!" says astrophotographer George Varros who spent last Saturday morning flying 45,000 ft above the California Coast during the Aurigid meteor outburst. "Here is a rough composite of four bright meteors imaged in less than 5 minutes through the window of the airplane." Click to view a 2.7 megabyte movie:

"Note the reflection of the meteors along the airplane wing's leading edge," he points out. "Each one was brighter than 0th magnitude."

Varros took the pictures from the Aurigid MAC aircraft, a flight organized by Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute to study these rare meteors from ancient Comet Kiess. Onboard were 14 scientists armed with image-intensified cameras and spectrometers: preliminary results. "A good time was had by all," says Varros.

The Sept. 1st outburst was "a wonderful confirmation of the meteor stream model developed by Jeremy Vaubaullion and Peter Jenniskens," he adds. "I asked Jeremy before the event if he was confident in his predictions--and he absolutely was. Awesome! Congratulations!"

The outburst was also witnessed by a great number of people on the ground. Browse the gallery, below, for more sights and sounds.

Aurigid Photo Gallery
[Interactive map of Aurigid sightings] [Meteor Alerts]

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 September 5, 2007 there were 881 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2007 RF1
Sep. 2
8.5 LD
18
26 m
2007 RJ1
Sep. 16
2.5 LD
16
40 m
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 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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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