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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 409.5 km/sec
density: 2.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
2119 UT Jun06
24-hr: C1
0135 UT Jun06
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 06 Jun 11
None of the sunspots on the solar disk pose a threat for strong flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 74
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 05 Jun 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 05 Jun 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 103 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 05 Jun 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.0 nT
Bz: 0.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 06 Jun 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jun 06 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
10 %
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: 2011 Jun 06 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Monday, Jun. 6, 2011
What's up in space
 

Are we alone? Your iPhone has the answer. Download the all-new Drake Equation app to calculate the population of the Milky Way.

 
DrakeEQ for iPhone and iPad

HUNDREDS WITNESS SOLAR BLAST: "On June 5th, while displaying the sun to 500+ kids and their families at the Virginia Highlands Summer Festival in Atlanta, GA, we witnessed an incredible display of solar activity," reports amateur astronomer Stephen W. Ramsden. "A magnetically supercharged chunk of hot plasma was ejected from the limb of the sun right before our eyes. It just hung there over the stellar surface almost 25 Earth-diameters high. The event was breathtaking to watch and really got the attendees interested in our nearest star." [must-see image]

WEEKEND AURORAS: A coronal mass ejection(CME) hit Earth's magnetic field on June 4th around 20:30 UT. The impact sparked a G2-class geomagnetic storm and Northern Lights in the United States as far south as Wisconsin, Maine, and Minnesota. Brian Larmay photographed the display from a lakeshore near Pembine, WI:

"It was a perfect night under the stars in the northwoods of Wisconsin as the northern lights danced above the pines," says Larmay. "An exposure of 60s was enough to reveal not only the lights in the sky but also their reflections in the lake. Beautiful!"

The storm is subsiding now, and geomagnetic activity is expected to be low for the next three days.

June 2011 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora alerts: text, voice] [previous Junes: 2010, 2008, 2001]

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: The 2011 season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is underway, and it is intensifying. Observers are now reporting electric-blue waves and filaments in the sunset skies of both Europe and North America. Last night, Bob Conzemius photographed a vivid display over Trout Lake, Minnesota, and--bonus--he caught some Northern Lights, too. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:

NLCs are a summertime phenomenon. In the upper atmosphere, 80+ km high at the edge of space itself, tiny ice crystals nucleate around microscopic meteoroids and other aerosols; when the crystals catch the rays of the setting sun, they glow electric blue. Ironically, these highest and coldest of clouds form during the warmest months on the ground.

Noctilucent clouds first appeared in the 19th century after the eruption of super-volcano Krakatoa. At the time, people thought the clouds were caused by the eruption, but the clouds persisted long after Krakatoa's ash settled. In those early days, NLCs were a polar phenomenon, mainly seen in far-northern places such as Scandinavia or Alaska. In recent years they have intensified and spread with sightings as far south as Utah and Colorado. A NASA spacecraft named AIM is in orbit to investigate.

Readers, especially you at high latitudes, be alert for NLCs in the evenings ahead. Observing tips may be found in our 2009 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery.

more images: from Mikael Johannesen of Hvidovre, Denmark; from Rance Ball of La Ronge Sk Canada; from Emil Harritz of Kjeldbjerg, Denmark; from Jesper Grønne of Silkeborg Denmark; from Sallie Carlson of Lutsen, Minnesota; from Martin McKenna of Maghera, Co. Derry, N. Ireland;


Midnight Solar Eclipse Gallery
[NASA: A Rare Eclipse of the 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, 2011 there were 1224 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2002 JC
Jun 1
57.5 LD
--
1.6 km
2009 BD
Jun 2
0.9 LD
--
10 m
2011 KE15
Jun 3
3.7 LD
--
16 m
2011 KV15
Jun 5
8.3 LD
--
25 m
2002 JB9
Jun 11
71.5 LD
--
3.2 km
2001 VH75
Jun 12
42.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2004 LO2
Jun 15
9.9 LD
--
48 m
2011 GA55
Jul 6
64.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2011 EZ78
Jul 10
37.3 LD
--
1.5 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 km
2007 DD
Jul 23
9.3 LD
--
31 m
2009 AV
Aug 22
49.7 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 QC10
Sep 18
50 LD
--
1.2 km
2004 SV55
Sep 19
67.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2007 TD
Sep 23
3.8 LD
--
58 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 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
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Science Central
 
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