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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: 339.5 km/sec
density: 0.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
2020 UT Jun09
24-hr: B4
0510 UT Jun09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 09 Jun 10
New sunspot 1078 is poses a growing threat for C-class solar flares.Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 12
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 Jun 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 33 days (21%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 801 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 08 Jun 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 72 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 08 Jun 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.1 nT
Bz: 0.8 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream from the indicated coronal hole is expected to hit Earth today. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of geomagnetic activity at high latitudes. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Jun 08 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: 2010 Jun 08 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
50 %
25 %
MINOR
25 %
05 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
60 %
25 %
MINOR
30 %
05 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
What's up in Space
June 9, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

AURORA WATCH: NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of geomagnetic activity today when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

CRACKLING SUNSPOT: New sunspot 1078 is growing rapidly and crackling with low-level solar flares. Click on the image to view some of the action recorded on June 8th by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):


movie formats: 1.8 MB mpg; 1 MB iPad; 0.6 MB iPhone

So far the relatively minor "crackles" shown in the SDO movie have had no effect on Earth. If the active region continues to grow, however, the flares could become more intense, leading to waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere and disturbances in low-frequency radio propagation. Stay tuned.

COMET MCNAUGHT: A fresh comet is swinging through the inner solar system, and it is brightening rapidly as it approaches the sun. Presenting, Comet McNaught (C/2009 R1):

Amateur astronomer John Chumack of Yellow Springs, Ohio, caught the comet passing by galaxy NGC 891 just before sunrise on June 8th. "I used a 5.5 inch telescope and a Canon Rebel Xsi digital camera to take this 15 minute exposure," he says. "It also looked great through binoculars."

Comet McNaught can be found low in the northeastern sky before dawn gliding through the constellation Perseus. It is brightening as it approaches Earth for a 1.13 AU close encounter on June 15th and 16th. Currently, the comet is at the threshold of naked eye visibility (6th magnitude) and could become as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper (2nd magnitude) before the end of the month. Because this is the comet's first visit to the inner solar system, predictions of future brightness are necessarily uncertain; amateur astronomers should be alert for the unexpected. [ephemeris] [3D orbit] [Sky & Telescope: sky map, full story]

more images: from Dr Paolo Candy of Ci.A.O. Cimini Astronomical Observatory, Italy; from Michael Jäger of Stixendorf, Austria; from Anthony Ayiomamitis of Athens, Greece; from Primoz Cigler of Bohor, Slovenia; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Feys Filip at the Public Observatory "Sasteria" in Crete; from Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprem, Hungary; from Petr Horalek of Ustupky, Czech republic;


May 2010 Aurora Gallery
[previous Mays: 2008, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002] [aurora alerts]

 
       
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, 2010 there were 1133 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 JR34
May 14
5.8 LD
21
12 m
2003 HR32
May 17
55.2 LD
17
1.0 km
2010 JN71
May 26
8.2 LD
18
245 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 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
   
  more links...
   
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