They came from outer space--and you can have one! Genuine meteorites are now on sale in the Space Weather Store. | | | VERY SPOTTED SUN: Solar activity is still relatively low, but the appearance of the sun suggests the quiet might not last. Over the weekend, a profusion of new sunspot groups peppered the solar disk with dark cores--each one a potential source of eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Solar flare alerts: text, voice. There are so many spots on the sun, even a jumbo jet cannot hide them: Raffaello Lena took the picture on January 5 not far from the international airport in Rome, Italy. "An animation of the flyby is available here," he says. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery AURORA WATCH: "With solar activity being so low lately, you wouldn't expect many auroras. Yet here in Inari, Finland," reports Andy Keen, "we've had some wonderfully clear skies and excellent displays." He photographed this scene on Jan. 5th: "The auroras became visible at approximately 16:00 hrs and lasted until midnight," he says. More lights are in the offing. A solar wind stream is heading for Earth and it could spark polar auroras when it arrives on Jan. 8-9. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% - 20% chance of geomagnetic storms. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Realtime Meteor Photo Gallery Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery [previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011] 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 January 6, 2013 there were 1364 potentially hazardous asteroids. 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | |