You are viewing the page for Aug. 13, 2006
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 334.8 km/s
density:
2.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2255 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B1 1910 UT Aug13
24-hr: B5 0215 UT Aug13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 13 Aug '06

Sunspot 904 poses a threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 27
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 12 Aug 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.5 nT
Bz:
0.9 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2256 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. 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 2006 Aug 13 2203 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 2006 Aug 13 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 15 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 13 Aug 2006
Subscribe to Space Weather News

Did you miss the aurora surprise of August 7th? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

PERSEID METEORS: Last night, Earth passed through the dusty tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Traveling 130,000 mph, little bits of comet dust plowed into the atmosphere and became fiery Perseid meteors: photo gallery.

While some Perseids were seen, others were heard. Radio engineer Stan Nelson recorded a loud ping when a meteor streaked over the Naval Space Surveillance Radar in Kickapoo, Texas:


The dynamic spectrum of a radar echo from a Perseid meteor: listen.

The Naval Space Surveillance Radar scans the skies above Texas with a 217 MHz radar beam. Whenever anything passes overhead, the radar produces an echo which can be picked up by receivers hundreds of miles away. Nelson recorded the Perseid ping from his listening station in Roswell, New Mexico.

SUNSPOT 904: Every time you look, it's less familiar. Sunspot 904 is growing and changing shape at a remarkable rate. At the moment it resembles a dumbbell with planet-sized weights: movie.

Above: Yesterday, using his Personal Solar Telescope, amateur astronomer Pete Lawrence caught sunspot 904 in the act of flaring--just a small C-class explosion. The sunspot's magnetic field harbors energy for much stronger M-class flares that may provide even better photo-ops in the days ahead.

more images: from Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland; from Dennis Simmons of Brisbane, Australia; from P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from Steve Riegel of Desenzano del Garda, Italy;



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 13 Aug 2006 there were 800 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

July 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2004 XP14

Jul 3

1.1 LD

12

600 m
2006 BQ6

Jul 29

14 LD

16

500 m
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. See also Snow Crystals.

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 Solar 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

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.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email


©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.