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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 329.0 km/sec
density: 2.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Jul07
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Jul07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Jul 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 07 July 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side 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
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.8 nT
Bz: 0.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about July 13th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Jul 07 2203 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2008 Jul 07 2203 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
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 7, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of June 25th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

DISCOVERIES AT MERCURY: Mercury's magnetic field is "alive." Volcanic vents ring Mercury's giant Caloris basin while the planet itself is surrounded by a nebula of unexpected plasma. These are just a few of the discoveries made by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft and reported in a special July 4th issue of Science magazine: full story.

SUNSET SKY SHOW: On Saturday night, July 5th, Saturn, Mars, Regulus and the crescent Moon lined up fetchingly across the western sky. Amateur astronomer Alan Friedman, on vacation at Mooselookmeguntic Lake in Maine, photographed the alignment and calls this shot Ducks in a Row:

Two days later, the Moon has moved on, exiting stage left, but the show is not over. Saturn and Mars are rapidly converging for their closest encounter of the next 14 years; on July 10th they'll be a scant 3/4o apart. Look west after sunset in the nights ahead to see the planets in motion.

images: from Hanif Shoaei of Tehran, Iran; from Sam Cole of Austin, Texas; from Wayne Suns of Tulsa, Oklahoma; from Babak Tafreshi of Tehran, Iran; from Milan Gucic of Belgrade, Serbia; from Geir Øye of Ørsta, Norway; from Paweł Dobies of Żędowo, Poland; from Saied Bahrami Nezhad of Bard-sir, Kerman, Iran; from Paco Bellido near Córdoba, Spain; from Mike Salway of Brisbane Water, Australia; from Willian Souza of Joaquim Egidio, Brazil; from David Hough of Newcastle, Australia; from Rick Stankiewicz of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada; from Robbie Merrill of Mesa, Arizona;

SOUTH POLE AURORAS: Imagine walking a mile to work every day in pitch-black dark with air temperatures routinely dipping below -90 F. It might be worth it if you could look up and see this:


Photo details: Canon Rebel XTi 400D, ISO 1600, 10mm lens, 10s, f4.0

The picture comes from Earth's south pole where "we had a nice display of aurora australis on July 5th," says J. Dana Hrubes, science leader of the Amundsen-Scott Station. Just before he took the picture, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth tipped south, opening a crack in our planet's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fueled the auroras. "That's Jupiter shining just above the silhouette of the South Pole Telescope," he points out.

Every day, Hrubes walks a mile from the main station to the telescope. "This gives me plenty of time to gaze at the sky. The temperature was -84 F when I took today's pictures and I have taken photos down to a temperature of -110.7 F, which is my personal all time low in early August, 2005. You have to take photos as quickly as possible; you never know what is going to freeze first, your camera or your fingers." (Note to cold-weather photographers: Hrubes uses a Canon 400D.)

"We are now getting into the coldest months, July and August, where we will see temperatures below -100 F," he continues. "These are actual static temperatures, not wind chills. Furthermore, the elevation of the site is nearly 10,000 feet and we experience physiological altitudes between 10,500 ft and 12,200 ft during winter." Many people would be put off by such conditions, but not Hrubes. "In four years at the Pole, I have racked up more than 3,000 miles of walking. I am lucky to have a great walk like this to my job 7 days a week."


2008 Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[NLC Tutorial] [Night-sky Cameras]

       
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 July 7, 2008 , there were 960 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2003 YE45
July 13
16.5 LD
15
1.4 km
2008 BT18
July 14
5.9 LD
13
1.0 km
2003 LC5
July 15
62 LD
16
1.4 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 Links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction 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...
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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