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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: 337.8 km/sec
density: 1.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C3
1950 UT Jul09
24-hr: C3
1950 UT Jul09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 09 Jul 10
A region of high magnetic activity is emerging at the circled location. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 11
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 July 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 35 days (18%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 803 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 08 July 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 76 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 08 July 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: 5.1 nT
Bz: 1.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should hit Earth's magnetic field on July 12th or 13th. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Jul 09 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
05 %
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 Jul 09 2201 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
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 9, 2010

ANDROID FLYBYS: Our field-tested satellite tracker is now available for Android phones. Features: Global predictions and flyby alarms! Learn more.

 

SOUTH PACIFIC ECLIPSE: Yearning to visit the South Pacific? Now is the time to set sail. On July 11th, the Moon will pass directly in front off the sun, producing a total solar eclipse. The path of totality stretches across the south Pacific Ocean, making landfall in only a few places: Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Easter Island, and the southern tip of South America. Get the details from NASA.

EMERGING ACTIVE REGION: An active region is emerging over the sun's northeastern limb. It appears to be the remains of old sunspot 1082, but unlike a genuine corpse, these remains are animated. The region is crackling with low-level solar flares. Click on the image to view a C-class eruption:


movie formats: 0.6 MB mpeg; 0.5 MB iPad; 0.5 MB iPhone

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the movie around 2200 UT on July 8th. The blast produced not only an ultraviolet flash of light, but also a coronal mass ejection (CME). The cloud is not heading for Earth, however, so we will experience no effects from the event.

Stay tuned for more flares and a better view as the active region turns toward our planet in the days ahead. Readers with solar telescopes, monitor the limb!

more images: from Andreas Murner of Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany; from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany

WHITE RAINBOW, GOOD OMEN: Waking up early on a foggy morning can have surprising rewards. Consider the tale of Artur T. Grodz of Elblag, Poland: "July 4th was election day in Poland, and I woke up early to get to my polling station. I was pedalling my bike along the Vistula river when I witnessed an extraordinary white rainbow."

Actually, it's a fogbow, caused by sunlight reflected from tiny droplets of fog hanging by the river's edge. They're often called "white rainbows" because of their rainbow-shape and pale colors, but rain is not involved.

"As I was stood contemplating the phenomenon, I noticed the broad arc setting as the sun rose behind me," recalls Grodz. "The show was over! It was so beautiful, I took it as a good omen for my presidental candidate." (Indeed, it proved to be so, becase his candidate won.)

Readers, to see your own white rainbow, follow these instructions: Wake up early, find some morning fog, face away from the low-hanging sun. Apparently, it's a lucky way to begin the day.


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 July 9, 2010 there were 1138 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July-Oct 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 MY1
Jul 3
7.9 LD
24
73 m
1999 JD6
Jul 27
53.9 LD
17
1.8 km
6239 Minos
Aug 10
38.3 LD
18
1.1 km
2005 NZ6
Aug 14
60.5 LD
18
1.3 km
2002 CY46
Sep 2
63.8 LD
16
2.4 km
2010 LY63
Sep 7
51.9 LD
18
1.4 km
2009 SH2
Sep 30
7.1 LD
25
45 m
1998 UO1
Oct 1
32.1 LD
17
2.1 km
2005 GE59
Oct 1
77 LD
18
1.1 km
2001 WN5
Oct 10
41.8 LD
18
1.0 km
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
17
1.8 km
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
15
5.3 km
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
17
2.1 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
40.6 LD
18
1.0 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
   
  more links...
   
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