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Solar wind
speed: 373.7 km/sec
density: 5.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2
1927 UT Apr10
24-hr: C7
0803 UT Apr10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 10 Apr 15
Sunspot AR2320 has an unstable 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 37
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 10 Apr 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Updated 10 Apr 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 106 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 10 Apr 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 6
storm
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 13.7 nT
Bz: 9.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2348 UT
Coronal Holes: 10 Apr 15

There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for NLCs has come to an end. The last clouds were observed by NASA's AIM spacecraft on Feb. 20, 2015. Now attention shifts to the northern hemisphere, where the first clouds of 2015 should appear in mid-May.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-28-2015 02:55:03
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Apr 10 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
30 %
30 %
CLASS X
10 %
10 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2015 Apr 10 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
20 %
MINOR
25 %
25 %
SEVERE
50 %
20 %
 
Friday, Apr. 10, 2015
What's up in space
 

Come to Tromsø and share Marianne's passion for rural photography: Chasethelighttours.co.uk invites you to experience "Heaven on Earth" with an aurora, fjord, fishing, whale watching, photography or sightseeing tour.

 
Chase the Light Tours

GEOMAGNETIC STORM SPARKS AURORAS: Unsetted solar wind conditions + the possible arrival of a weak CME ignited a G2-class geomagnetic storm during the early hours of April 10th. Northern Lights spilled over the Canadian border into the USA as far south as Idaho, Montana and Colorado. The storm is subsiding now, but NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance that it could flare up again before the end of the day. [photo gallery] Aurora alerts: text, voice

A MIXTURE OF DISSIMILAR THINGS: Venus and the Pleiades are converging for a close encounter in the sunset sky. This weekend, the planet and the star cluster will cross paths only 2o apart. Yuri Beletsky photographed the Seven Sisters +1 on April 9th, just one day before closest approach, over the Las Campanas observatory in Chile:

Consider it a mixture of dissimilar things. The Pleiades are elusive. They're best seen out of the corner of your eye, a pretty little surprise that pops out of the night sky when you're staring elsewhere. Venus is just the opposite. Dazzling, bright enough to cast faint shadows on a moonless night, it beams down from the heavens and grabs you when you're not even looking.

In the nights ahead, look west after sunset. Venus pops out of the twilight long before nightfall. As the sky fades to black, you can see the Pleiades, too. The nights of closest approach are Friday, April 10th, and Saturday, April 11th. Bright Venus makes for a stunning contrast against the pinpoint beauty of the star cluster. Observing tip: For maximum contrast, use binoculars.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

UPSIDE DOWN FORBUSH DECREASE: Last month, on March 17th, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field, sparking the strongest geomagnetic storm of the current solar cycle. Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a series of weather balloons--before, during and after the storm--to measure the storm's effect on Earth's upper atmosphere. Here are the results:

During the storm, which lasted for more than two days, cosmic radiation levels in the stratosphere jumped by more than 6%. Radiation levels did not return to normal until a week after the CME strike.

Six percent might not sound like a big increase, but consider the following: Atmospheric radiation levels usually decrease when CMEs sweep past Earth. The effect is called a "Forbush Decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. Essentially, CMEs sweep aside some of the cosmic rays that surround our planet, causing radiation levels to drop. In Sept. 2014, for instance, our space weather ballooning program detected a sharp Forbush Decrease. A 6% increase--simply because it is an increase--therefore comes as a surprise.

The reason for the jump may lie in the intensity of the St. Patrick's Day geomagnetic storm. While Earth's magnetic field was reverberating on March 17th, high-energy particles normally trapped around Earth's poles spilled down to mid-latitudes where the space weather balloons were launched (from the Sierra Nevada mountains of California). These extra particles could have filled in the deficit and overflowed it, producing an "upside down Forbush Decrease."

These results show that we still have a lot to learn about the response of Earth's atmosphere to solar storms. Stay tuned for more results from the ballooning program.

For specialists: Radiation levels plotted above represent the peak of the Pfotzer maximum, located approximately 65,000 feet above Earth's surface. Each space weather balloon carried four independent radiation detectors sensitive to gamma-rays and ionizing particles in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV.



Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Apr. 10, 2015, the network reported 34 fireballs.
(34 sporadics)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

  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 April 10, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 FN33
Apr 6
9.8 LD
26 m
2063 Bacchus
Apr 7
76 LD
1.6 km
2005 KA
Apr 12
13 LD
50 m
2015 GL
Apr 13
6 LD
39 m
2015 GK
Apr 13
2.8 LD
29 m
5381 Sekhmet
May 17
62.8 LD
2.1 km
2005 XL80
Jun 4
38.1 LD
1.0 km
2012 XB112
Jun 11
10.1 LD
2 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 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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