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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 426.6 km/sec
density: 0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B9
1831 UT Feb10
24-hr: C1
1536 UT Feb10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 10 Feb 12
A new sunspot is emerging at the circled location. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 33
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 09 Feb 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 09 Feb 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 99 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 09 Feb 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.2 nT
Bz: 3.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 09 Feb 12
Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 10-11. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Feb 10 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
10 %
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: 2012 Feb 10 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
30 %
MINOR
01 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
40 %
MINOR
05 %
20 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
What's up in space
 

It's a Valentine's Gift from the stars: Authentic meteorite rings. Select your favorite from dozens of styles.

 
Meteorite rings

AURORA WATCH: NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of minor geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours as Earth glides through a solar wind stream. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for green things above. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

NORTHEASTERN ERUPTION: Solar activity is picking up. During the late hours of Feb. 9th, a dark magnetic filament winding over the sun's northeastern limb rose up and exploded. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:

The eruption hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) away from the sun: SOHO movie. The expanding cloud is not heading for Earth, but in a day or so it might make contact with Venus, which appears to be in the line of fire.

The emergence of a new sunspot at the root of the erupting filament plus the rapid growth of existing sunspot AR1416 could foreshadow more activity in the days ahead. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

MOON-MARS: Mars is approaching Earth for a close encounter in early March. Already the Red Planet is five times brighter than a 1st-magnitude star. Last night it appeared next to the Moon, where the children of Swedish astrophotographer P-M Hedén saw it beaming through the evening mist:

"It was a very cold evening, but my children decided to come along with me to get a nice view of the Moon and Mars rising over a frozen lake," says Heden. "It was worth standing in the cold mist to see this. Now the children are in front of the stove, warm and nice again."

Meanwhile, Efrain Morales Rivera photographed the Red Planet from his private observatory in of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. "Cross your eyes to see Mars in 3D," he says. The two images were taken one hour apart. The rotation of Mars during that time provided two points of view necessary for a pseudo-stereo effect: more.


January 2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004]


Comet Lovejoy Gallery
[previous comets: McNaught, Holmes, Lulin, Tuttle, Ikeya-Zhang]

  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 February 10, 2012 there were 1287 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 AV
Feb 16
44.9 LD
--
1.2 km
2000 ET70
Feb 19
17.7 LD
--
1.0 km
2011 CP4
Feb 23
9.1 LD
--
255 m
2008 EJ85
Mar 6
9.1 LD
--
44 m
1999 RD32
Mar 14
57.9 LD
--
2.4 km
2011 YU62
Mar 16
73.4 LD
--
1.3 km
1996 SK
Apr 18
67.2 LD
--
1.6 km
2007 HV4
Apr 19
4.8 LD
--
8 m
2011 WV134
Apr 28
38.6 LD
--
1.8 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 web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Trade Show Displays
   
  more links...
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