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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 387.9 km/s
density:
2.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max:
A1 2010 UT Feb09
24-hr: A4 0250 UT Feb09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 09 Feb '07

Departing sunspot 941 poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI!


Sunspot Number: 22
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 08 Feb 2007

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image confrms the presence of a moderately large spot on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.1 nT
Bz:
2.2 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth as early as Feb 12th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2007 Feb 09 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 2007 Feb 09 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 25 %
MINOR 01 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 05 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 30 %
MINOR 05 % 15 %
SEVERE 01 % 10 %

What's Up in Space -- 9 Feb 2007
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Cards, flowers, chocolate... what's missing? The heavens. Spaceweather PHONE for Valentine's Day.

WEEKEND RINGS: This weekend Saturn is at its closest to Earth: 762 million miles. It thus looks bigger and brighter both to the naked eye and through a telescope than it will at any other time in 2007. Look for Saturn rising in the east at sunset and soaring nearly overhead at midnight: sky map.

TILTING PLANET: Observers who point a backyard telescope at Saturn (highly recommended) may notice that it doesn't look the same as it did last year. "The rings are tilting toward Earth," says amateur astronomer Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York. He has been photographing Saturn for years and made this movie of his observations between 2004 and 2007:


"The Slow Dance of Saturn" by Alan Friedman using a 10-inch telescope.

The changing aspect is due to a combination of geometric factors, mainly the tilt of Saturn's spin axis plus the orbital motion of Earth. Eventually, the rings will narrow so much that they briefly disappear before opening up again. The next ring plane crossing: Sept. 4, 2009. Meanwhile, the rings are uncovering Saturn's blue north pole--one more reason to look through a telescope this weekend.

VENUS PILLARS: Venus is so bright, it does things normally reserved for the Sun and Moon--such as sprouting pillars. John E. Cordiale of South Glens Falls, NY, took this picture on Jan. 24th:


Photo details: Canon 350D, Tamron 19-35mm lens, 800 iso, 30 seconds

"I was watching the sunset and noticed that Venus looked a little strange," says Cordiale. "I took some photos and found that Venus had pillars! In one image Venus was behind the clouds and the pillars were still visible."

Venus pillars, like Sun pillars and Moon pillars, are caused by flat, six-sided ice crystals fluttering down from high clouds. The crystals reflect light from their horizontal faces, spreading a single point of light into a luminous column.

Tonight, look for Venus pillars after sunset. And if you don't see any, let Mercury be your consolation prize: sky map.

BONUS: Last night P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden saw Venus pillars in a snow shower: image.



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 9 Feb 2007 there were 842 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Feb-Mar 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 AM4

Feb. 1

5.2 LD

16

180 m
2007 BZ48

Feb. 7

4.5 LD

18

30 m
2006 VV2

Mar. 31

8.8 LD

9

2 km
Notes: LD is a "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 Environment 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. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images -- from the National Solar Data Analysis Center

X-ray images of the Sun: GOES-12 and GOES-13

Recent Solar Events -- a summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

What is the Magnetosphere?

The Lion Roars -- visit this site to find out what the magnetosphere sounds like.

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft.

How powerful are solar wind gusts? Not very! Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1996 to 2006

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006; Apr-Jun 2006; Jul-Sep 2006; Oct-Dec 2006.

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email


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