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Solar wind
speed: 372.0 km/sec
density: 2.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2131 UT Apr07
24-hr: C1
2131 UT Apr07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Apr 15
Sunspot AR2320 has developed a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 78
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 07 Apr 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
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%)

Updated 07 Apr 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 126 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 07 Apr 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.7 nT
Bz: 3.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2348 UT
Coronal Holes: 07 Apr 15

There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for NLCs has come to an end. The last clouds were observed by NASA's AIM spacecraft on Feb. 20, 2015. Now attention shifts to the northern hemisphere, where the first clouds of 2015 should appear in mid-May.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-28-2015 02:55:03
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Apr 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: 2015 Apr 07 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
45 %
MINOR
05 %
20 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
10 %
MINOR
25 %
25 %
SEVERE
20 %
60 %
 
Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2015
What's up in space
 

Come to Tromsø and share Marianne's passion for rural photography: Chasethelighttours.co.uk invites you to experience "Heaven on Earth" with an aurora, fjord, fishing, whale watching, photography or sightseeing tour.

 
Chase the Light Tours

QUIET WITH A CHANCE OF FLARES: Solar activity is low, but sunspot AR2320 could break the quiet. The growing sunspot has developed a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Any eruptions today would likely be geoeffective as the sunspot is directly facing Earth. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

THE OZONE FRINGE: Lunar eclipses are supposed to be red. When the Moon slips into the shadow of our planet, the lunar landscape transforms from gray to amber because of sunlight scattered from the top of Earth's atmosphere. Most people who watched last Saturday's eclipse did indeed observe a rosy hue. Yet a few observers noticed something extra--a band of blue:

"A blue band was visible through the eyepiece of my telescope and looked even better in the image," reports Eliot Herman of Tucson, Arizona. "I took this picture just before maximum eclipse using a Questar Q3.5 and a Nikon D810 digital camera."

The blue color is caused by ozone. Atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado explains: "Most of the light illuminating the Moon passes through the stratosphere, and is reddened by scattering. However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer." This can be seen using binoculars or a small telescope as a turquoise-blue border around the red.

More examples of the "ozone fringe" may be found in the eclipse gallery. Take a look!

Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery

SUN AND MOON HALO: Ice crystals in high clouds have a beautiful effect on sunlight. Sunbeams that strike the crystals are bent into luminous rings called ice halos. Moonbeams are affected the same way. Exactly the same way. Göran Strand proved it with this composite image of the sun and Moon over Östersund, Sweden, on April 1st:

"During the day I took a photo of the 22° solar halo," says Strand. "And later that night, 10 hours later, when the Moon was in the same position in the sky, I took another shot from the same location, showing a 22° Moon halo. Merging the two photos shows the halos are a perfect match."

22º radius halos are visible all over the world and throughout the year. The ice crystals that create them float 5 km to 10 km above the ground. Those altitudes are always freezing even during the warmest months of summer. Look for halos, night and day, whenever the sky is wisped with cold cirrus clouds.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Apr. 7, 2015, the network reported 10 fireballs.
(10 sporadics)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

  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 April 7, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 FK120
Apr 5
5.8 LD
16 m
2015 FN33
Apr 6
9.8 LD
26 m
2063 Bacchus
Apr 7
76 LD
1.6 km
2005 KA
Apr 12
13 LD
50 m
5381 Sekhmet
May 17
62.8 LD
2.1 km
2005 XL80
Jun 4
38.1 LD
1.0 km
2012 XB112
Jun 11
10.1 LD
2 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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