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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 283.8 km/sec
density: 2.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Sep13
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Sep13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 13 Sep 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 Sept. 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 0
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.1 nT
Bz: 0.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Sept. 14th. Credit: Hinode X-ray Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Sep 13 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2008 Sep 13 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
30 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
40 %
MINOR
10 %
15 %
SEVERE
01 %
05 %
What's up in Space
September 13, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of August 9th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

AURORA WATCH: A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, due to arrive on Sept. 14th. Sky watchers from Alaska to Scandinavia should be alert for auroras this weekend: gallery.

HARVEST MOON: This weekend's full Moon (Sept. 14/15) has a special name--the Harvest Moon. It's the full moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox (Sept. 22). In years past, farmers depended on the light of the Harvest Moon to gather ripening crops late into the night. Post-Edison, we appreciate it mainly for its beauty.

This Friday night moonshot comes from Todd Hargis of Horseshoe Bay, Texas:

"Through the high thin clouds of Hurricane Ike, ice crystals refracted the moonlight to create a beautiful 22o halo," says Hargis.

More haloes are in the offing--possibly accompanied by lunar coronas, moondogs, and who knows what else? Keep an eye on the Harvest Moon this weekend.

more images: from Bob King of Duluth, Minnesota; from Ashmeet Singh of New Delhi, India; from Frank Ryan Jr of Co. Clare, Ireland; from Mustafa Erol of Antalya, Turkey; from Tamas Ladanyi of Hegyestu, Hungary;

ARACHNIDA MAJOR: In Trieste, Italy, photographer Marco Fulle has discovered what holds the constellations in place. It is a protenaceous silk material, elastic, sticky, and with a tensile strength greater than steel. Most people call it "spider's web":

"On the wet morning of Sept. 9th, I happened to see a perfect spider's web. Fascinated by the geometry, I applied a few dewdrops to obtain a likeness of our northern polar sky. With Cassiopaeia on one side and the Big Dipper on the other, the spider was at the center of things, and she seemed very happy with that result!"

Strange, but true: Spiders are a popular target for astrophotographers. Browse the images from Lois Reinert of Tracy, Minnesota; from Maurice Gavin of London, England; from Ed Kreminski of Westerville, Ohio; from Jan Hemmer of Sint Maarten, Noordholland, the Netherlands; from Denis Joye of Boulogne, France.


Sept. 2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night Sky Cameras]

       
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 September 13, 2008 , there were 979 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2003 WT153
Sept. 7
5.8 LD
23
11 m
1996 HW1
Sept. 12
53 LD
12
3.7 km
2003 SW130
Sept. 19
8.6 LD
23
7 m
1998 UO1
Sept. 26
25 LD
18
2.0 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 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 and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
  a one-stop hub for all things scientific
  more links...
   
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