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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 517.0 km/sec
density: 2.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2349 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B6
2253 UT Apr13
24-hr: B8
0757 UT Apr13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 13 Apr 16
Big yet mostly quiet sunspot AR2529 is directly facing Earth. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 34
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 Apr 2016

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2016 total: 0 days (0%)
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 13 Apr 2016


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 111 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 13 Apr 2016

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 5
storm
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.2 nT
Bz: 2.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2349 UT
Coronal Holes: 13 Apr 16

Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole.Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for noctilucent clouds began on Dec. 13, 2015. It is expected to end in late February or March 2016.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-12-2016 16:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2016 Apr 13 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
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: 2016 Apr 13 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
35 %
MINOR
30 %
10 %
SEVERE
20 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
30 %
SEVERE
75 %
45 %
 
Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2016
What's up in space
       
 

Marianne's Heaven On Earth Aurora Chaser Tours Chasethelighttours.co.uk invites you to join them in their quest to find and photograph the Aurora Borealis. Experience the winter wonderland in the Tromsø Area.

 
Chase the Light Tours

ARCTIC AURORAS: A high-speed stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and this is sparking intermittent geomagnetic storms around the Arctic Circle. Last night in the Finnish Lapland, "the sky exploded into many colors," reports B.Art Braafhart, who sends this picture from the Salla ski resort:

"Winter is not yet over here in Salla," says Braafhart. "The temperature dropped to a nice cracking -7 C as the auroras danced across the sky."

Later today, a minor CME from sunspot AR2529 could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. Such an impact would add to the effect of the solar wind stream, already here. NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of more G1-class geomagnetic storms on April 13th. Aurora alerts: text or voice

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

SPACE ROSES: Last week, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a daring experiment. Daring for the flowers, that is. A bouquet of live roses flew to the edge of space onboard a helium balloon to find out if if they could survive the trip. The answer, apparently, is "yes." Here are the blossoms floating 35.4 km (116,000 feet) above Earth's surface:

.

The roses were hitchikers on a cosmic ray payload, which went to the stratosphere to monitor increasing levels of space radiation. En route to the top, the flowers were exposed to a dose of cosmic rays 100x Earth normal, air pressures as low as 0.2% of sea level, and temperatures as low as -63 C. Three hours later, the roses parachuted back to Earth and landed ... in Death Valley! Talk about a rough trip.

And now we come to Mother's Day. These flowers, which were pressed after recovery, are available as gifts. Buy one here and give mom something truly out of this world on May 8th. Each pressed rose comes with a unique card showing the flowers in flight. All proceeds support the student space weather research of Earth to Sky Calculus.

I HEART SUNSPOT: Big sunspot AR2529 is now directly facing Earth, giving solar astronomers a clear view of the behemoth active region. This morning, April 13th, Karzaman Ahmad of the Langkawi National Observatory in Malaysia took a closer look and found that the sunspot is shaped like a heart:

Ahmad inserted a picture of Earth to show the scale of the sunspot. The primary dark core is several times wider than our entire planet. You have to love a sunspot with those kind of dimensions. It is an easy target for backyard solar telescopes.

Since it appeared less than a week ago, AR2529 has been mostly, but not completely, quiet. On April 10th it hurled a minor CME into space. That CME, along with another that occurred a few hours later, could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on April 13th. Solar flare alerts: text or voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
[More about Comet 252P: brightness measurements, 3D orbit, orbital elements]

  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. 13, 2016, the network reported 7 fireballs.
(7 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 13, 2016 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2009 KJ
Apr 10
37.7 LD
1.6 km
2016 FV13
Apr 11
1.8 LD
28 m
2016 GU
Apr 11
2.7 LD
31 m
2005 GR33
Apr 13
7.7 LD
175 m
2016 GC134
Apr 13
9 LD
28 m
2016 FL12
Apr 13
9.6 LD
24 m
2016 FS14
Apr 14
13.7 LD
39 m
2016 FL13
Apr 15
9.7 LD
36 m
2008 HU4
Apr 16
4.9 LD
10 m
2016 GM2
Apr 16
12.6 LD
45 m
2016 FY12
Apr 17
5.8 LD
24 m
2016 FN13
Apr 19
13.9 LD
13 m
2016 GC1
Apr 21
8.9 LD
21 m
2016 GD207
Apr 22
4.4 LD
32 m
2016 FH12
Apr 23
7.8 LD
21 m
2016 FY3
Apr 25
6.3 LD
310 m
2001 VG5
Apr 28
52.4 LD
1.8 km
2014 US115
May 1
9.4 LD
52 m
2008 TZ3
May 5
13.1 LD
355 m
2014 JG55
May 8
7.6 LD
7 m
2016 GS2
May 18
3.4 LD
116 m
2009 DL46
May 24
6.2 LD
215 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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere
Situation Report -- Oct. 30, 2015 Stratospheric Radiation (+37o N)
Cosmic ray levels are elevated (+6.1% above the Space Age median). The trend is flat. Cosmic ray levels have increased +0% in the past month.
Sept. 06: 4.14 uSv/hr (414 uRad/hr)
Sept. 12: 4.09 uSv/hr (409 uRad/hr)
Sept. 23: 4.12 uSv/hr (412 uRad/hr)
Sept. 25: 4.16 uSv/hr (416 uRad/hr)
Sept. 27: 4.13 uSv/hr (413 uRad/hr)
Oct. 11: 4.02 uSv/hr (402 uRad/hr)
Oct. 22: 4.11 uSv/hr (411 uRad/hr)
These measurements are based on regular space weather balloon flights: learn more.

Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly "space weather balloons" to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Our measurements show that someone flying back and forth across the continental USA, just once, can absorb as much ionizing radiation as 2 to 5 dental X-rays. For example, here is the data from a flight on Oct. 22, 2015:

Radiation levels peak at the entrance to the stratosphere in a broad region called the "Pfotzer Maximum." This peak is named after physicist George Pfotzer who discovered it using balloons and Geiger tubes in the 1930s. Radiation levels there are more than 80x sea level.

Note that the bottom of the Pfotzer Maximim is near 55,000 ft. This means that some high-flying aircraft are not far from the zone of maximum radiation. Indeed, according to the Oct 22th measurements, a plane flying at 45,000 feet is exposed to 2.79 uSv/hr. At that rate, a passenger would absorb about one dental X-ray's worth of radiation in about 5 hours.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

  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
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