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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: 549.2 km/sec
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2241 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Sep07
24-hr: A0
0200 UT Sep07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Sep 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 06 Sept. 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= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
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: 4.3 nT
Bz: 1.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2244 UT
Coronal Holes:
Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: Hinode X-Ray Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Sep 07 2201 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 Sep 07 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
September 7, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of August 9th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

JULES VERNE UNDOCKS: The European Space Agency's robotic cargo carrier, Jules Verne, undocked from the ISS on Sept. 5th. Now the two spacecraft are flying through the night sky in tandem. Michel Vandeputte saw them soaring over Ronse, Belgium, on Sept. 6th: "The Jules Verne was visible at magnitude 0; the ISS at magnitude -2." Readers, check the Satellite Tracker for flybys of your hometown.

3D BONUS: Put on your 3D glasses and check out Jules Verne, docked in stereo: #1, #2. Graphic artist Patrick Vantuyne of Belgium created the anaglyphs from photos taken by shuttle astronauts in June 2008.

FIND THE PLEIADES: When in Iceland, where do you look for the Pleiades? Scan the photo for hints as you scroll down for the answer:

Through a gap in the Northern Lights, of course. Click here.

Sean Scully took the picture on Sept. 6th just outside of Akureyri, Iceland. "The sunsets are now early enough that the sky is dark after 10 p.m. and we can see the auroras again." This display was caused by a solar wind stream buffeting Earth's magnetic field.

Good news: the solar wind is still blowing and more auroras are possible tonight. Sky watchers in Alaska, Canada, Iceland and Scandinavia should be alert for Pleiades peeking through the green.

September 2008 Aurora Gallery
[Past Septembers: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]

PILLARS OF FIRE: "In Greek mythology, Hercules built pillars to hold up the sky and thus freed Atlas the Titan. I used to think it was just a beautiful legend," says Mila Zinkova of San Francisco, California, "until I witnessed the pillars myself." She found them beneath the setting sun on Sept. 1st:


Photo details: Canon XTI, 300 mm; 1/4000s, f/10, ISO100

"The sun held up by pillars?" asks atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "We might say 'Nonsense, it's only a mirage.' But which is the mirage and which is the real sun? Layers of different temperature air have distorted the sun's rays and produced several solar images. All of them are illusions. Even the top bright one is raised up in the sky and flattened."

"Philosophers ponder what is real, relax instead and enjoy the spectacle!"

       
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 September 7, 2008 , there were 980 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2003 WT153
Sept. 7
5.8 LD
23
11 m
1996 HW1
Sept. 12
53 LD
12
3.7 km
2003 SW130
Sept. 19
8.6 LD
23
7 m
1998 UO1
Sept. 26
25 LD
18
2.0 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 space weather bureau
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.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
  a one-stop web hub for all things scientific
  more links...
   
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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