You are viewing the page for Jun. 6, 2007
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 344.5 km/sec
density: 2.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C9
1725 UT Jun06
24-hr: C9
1725 UT Jun06
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 06 June 07
Sunspot 960 poses a continued threat for X-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 63
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 05 June 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large spots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Jun 06 2133 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.5 nT
Bz: 2.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated:Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Jun 06 2203 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
40 %
40 %
CLASS X
10 %
10 %
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 Jun 06 2203 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
20 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
June 6, 2007
Would you like to hear about solar flares--while they're flaring? Get instant alerts from SpaceWeather PHONE.

SUCCESSFUL FLYBY: Last night, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew over the cloud tops of Venus at a velocity of more than 30,000 mph. Mission controllers say onboard systems performed flawlessly, gathering approximately 6 gigabits of data. Playback begins on June 7th with a full color mosaic of Venus and a first look at the exciting laser experiment due on June 8th. Stay tuned!

CRACKLING SUNSPOT: Sunspot 960 may be in decay, but it is still crackling with explosions. Earlier today, "I was looking at the spot through my Coronado solar telescope when suddenly a C9-flare erupted," reports Günter Kleinschuster of Styria, Austria. Scrambling to set up his camera, he captured this image:

"It was so bright that the surface was overexposed. What fun to look at!" he says.

Stronger flares are possible. Sunspot 960 has a "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class explosions; NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of an X-flare during the next 24 hours.

more images: from Alcaria Rego of Almada, Portugal; from Jean-Marc Lecleire of Torcy, France; from Robert Morlan of La Porte, Indiana; from Efrain Morales of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

MIDNIGHT SUN: Last week on Dønna Island, Norway, photographer Andreas D. Skjervold decided to photograph the sunset. "I set my camera upon a hill 128m above sea level--and waited," he says. "But the sun never set." Here is the picture he took at midnight:


Photo details: Nikon D70, 300mm focal length, 1/400, f/5.6

This apparition of the midnight sun is a bit of a puzzle because "Dønna Island is 40 km south of the Arctic circle," points out Skjervold. What happened?

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley has the answer: "Three effects made this unexpected midnight sun," he explains. "Firstly, the horizon dips lower the higher you climb. Even a few hundred feet have a surprisingly large effect. Secondly, the atmosphere acts like a giant lens which raises upwards the sun and stars near the horizon. Something else is happening, air temperature gradients have miraged the sun almost into a line and helped duct its light around the horizon. A far more extreme form of mirage ducting is the Novaya Zemlya effect where the sun rises quite unexpectedly during the long arctic night - another form of midnight sun!"

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 June 6, 2007 there were 864 potentially hazardous asteroids.
June-July 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2005 AD13
June 18
33 LD
16
1.2 km
2007 FV42
July 2
53 LD
15
1.2 km
2007 DT103
July 29
9.3 LD
15
550 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.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.