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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind

speed: 565.6 km/s
density:
2.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C1 2215 UT Jan10
24-hr: C6 0515 UT Jan10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 10 Jan '04
Sunspot 537 poses a threat for X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 88
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 09 Jan 2004

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.5 nT
Bz:
4.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Image 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 2004 Jan 10 2200 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 75 % 75 %
CLASS X 20 % 20 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2004 Jan 10 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 30 %
MINOR 15 % 15 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 35 % 25 %
MINOR 20 % 35 %
SEVERE 10 % 15 %

What's Up in Space -- 10 Jan 2004
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SOLAR ACTIVITY: Sunspots 536 and 537 produced some strong M-class flares last week, but none of the blasts resulted in strong magnetic storms on Earth. Although 537 is the smaller of the two sunspots, it has the more complicated magnetic field, harboring energy for powerful X-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of an X-flare during the next 24 hours.

SATURN: "Don't forget Saturn!" says Pim Valk of the Netherlands, who took this picture of the ringed planet and some of its moons on Jan. 3rd. (Click on the image for photo details.) Saturn is close to Earth this month, and easy to find in the constellation Gemini. Go outside around 8 p.m. and look east. Saturn is that bright yellow star about half way up the sky. Even a small telescope will reveal the planet's lovely rings. [sky map]

SUNSPOTS: Sunspot 536 is decaying, but it's still big enough to see without a telescope. Karl Kuehn of Grenne, New York, noticed it this morning--a dark smudge on the sun dimmed by early morning clouds:

"Power lines interfered with the view," says Kuehn, "but I was not about to go outside for a better angle because the temperature was -29C. Perhaps that's not as cold as a Martian morning but it's certainly enough to keep me inside."

You can observe sunspot 536, too, but never look directly at the sun. To avoid eye damage, try these safe solar observing techniques.



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 10 Jan 2004 there were 565 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

December 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2003 YS17

Jan 14

14 LD

 17
2001 BE10

Jan 15

23 LD

 14
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 --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Soft X-ray Imager.

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

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

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

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

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

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

Editor's Note: This site is sponsored by Science@NASA. Space weather and other forecasts that appear here are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They should not be construed as guarantees of space weather or other celestial activity.

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