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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: 440.2 km/sec
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A7
1650 UT Jun09
24-hr: C9
1345 UT Jun09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 09 June 07
Sunspot 960 poses a declining threat for solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 51
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 June 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Jun 09 2058 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.0 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated:Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Jun 09 2203 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
20 %
20 %
CLASS X
05 %
05 %
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 Jun 09 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
25 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
What's up in Space
June 9, 2007
Would you like to hear about solar flares--while they're flaring? Get instant alerts from SpaceWeather PHONE.

SOLAR FLARE: Even in decay, sunspot 960 is producing solar flares. An M1-class flare erupted today at 1345 UT, shown in this photo from P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden. "Wow!" he says. "What a sight!" The eruption did not cause a radiation storm, so it poses no threat to the astronauts in orbit.

LIFTOFF! Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-117) has left the planet. It launched from Cape Canaveral at 7:38 pm EDT on June 8th and is now en route to the International Space Station, where the shuttle's crew will deliver supplies and help install a new pair of solar wings to power the ISS.

The launch itself was spectacular--and then the view improved. "This photo was taken one hour after launch," says photographer Mike Theiss:

"It looked like Northern Lights had come to Florida," he says.

Actually, this is the shuttle's exhaust plume twisted into curlicues by high altitudes winds. The iridescent colors are caused by tiny ice crystals and possibly water droplets in the exhaust, which diffract the light of the setting sun.

STS-117 Photo Gallery

SUNGRAZING COMET: Yesterday, a comet plunged toward the sun and, with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) looking on, it disintegrated. Click on the image to view a 2 MB movie:

The unexpected comet was probably a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun every day. Most are too small to see, but occasionally a big one catches our attention.

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 June 9, 2007 there were 864 potentially hazardous asteroids.
June-July 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2005 AD13
June 18
33 LD
16
1.2 km
2007 FV42
July 2
53 LD
15
1.2 km
2007 DT103
July 29
9.3 LD
15
550 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 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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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