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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 368.2 km/sec
density: 1.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2
2218 UT Feb07
24-hr: B6
0248 UT Feb07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Feb 13
Sunspot AR1667 is decaying, but still poses a threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 39
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 07 Feb 2013

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update
07 Feb 2013

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 104 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 07 Feb 2013

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 9.2 nT
Bz: 1.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 07 Feb 13
Solar wind flowing from this coronal holes could brush against Earth's magnetic field on Feb. 8-9. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2013 Feb 07 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: 2013 Feb 07 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
25 %
25 %
SEVERE
35 %
25 %
 
Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013
What's up in space
 

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POSSIBLE NAKED-EYE COMET IN MARCH: A comet falling in from the distant reaches of the solar system could become a naked-eye object in early March. This is Comet Pan-STARRS's inaugural visit to the inner solar system, so surprises are possible as its virgin ices are exposed to intense solar heating for the first time. [full story] [video] [photo]

DARK SPIRAL: Decaying sunspot AR1667 erupted on Feb. 6th, producing a double-peaked C9-class solar flare that lasted more than ten hours from beginning to end. The slow explosion hurled a twisting, inky-dark plume of plasma into space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the spiral:

The darkness of the material is a sign that the plasma was dense and cool relative to the surrounding atmosphere of the sun. This isn't the first time that the sun has produced a dark explosion. Since the launch of Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2010, researchers have catalogued many instances of cool plasma emerging from flare sites. "Cool" has a special meaning, however, on the sun. The temperature of the dark blobs is "only" about 20,000 K vs. 40,000 K to 1,000,000 K for the gas in the surrounding atmosphere.

Decaying sunspot AR1667 probably won't erupt again. NOAA forecasters put the odds of a significant (M-class or stronger) flare today at 10% or less. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

COMET ISON SPROUTS A TAIL: Comet ISON, which is plunging toward the sun for a bright and fiery encounter in late 2013, has just sprouted a tail. It's not much--yet--but that is because the comet is still in deep space near the orbit of Jupiter. On. Feb. 3rd, amateur astronomer Rolando Ligustri photographed the development using a robotic telescope in New Mexico:

Comet ISON doesn't look very impressive now as it glides through the cold vacuum more than 600,000 km from Earth, but its appearance will improve later this year. On Nov. 28th, ISON is going to glide through the sun's atmosphere only 1.1 million km above the stellar surface. It could emerge from the encounter glowing as brightly as the full Moon, visible in broad daylight near the sun. If so, today's budding tail would likely grow into a garish appendage that wows observers in both hemispheres--no telescope required. Stay tuned for updates.

Update: NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has also observed Comet ISON's sprouting tail. Click here for a video.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]

  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 February 7, 2013 there were 1378 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2013 CL22
Feb 2
1.2 LD
49 m
1999 HA2
Feb 5
58 LD
1.3 km
2013 BA74
Feb 6
4.5 LD
37 m
2013 BS45
Feb 12
4.9 LD
30 m
3752 Camillo
Feb 12
57.5 LD
3.4 km
2013 BV15
Feb 13
3.7 LD
59 m
1999 YK5
Feb 15
49.1 LD
2.1 km
2012 DA14
Feb 15
0.09 LD
58 m
2009 AV
Feb 25
59.7 LD
1.0 km
2007 EO88
Mar 18
4.4 LD
23 m
1993 UC
Mar 20
49 LD
3.8 km
1997 AP10
Mar 28
45.9 LD
1.8 km
2010 GM23
Apr 13
3.9 LD
50 m
2005 NZ6
Apr 29
24.9 LD
1.3 km
2001 DQ8
Apr 30
74.3 LD
1.1 km
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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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