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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 416.6 km/s
density:
11.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A2 2045 UT Mar14
24-hr: B2 0705 UT Mar14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 14 Mar '06

New sunspot 858 poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
.

Sunspot Number: 14
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 13 Mar 2006

Far Side of the Sun

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.1 nT
Bz:
2.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

SOHO ultraviolet images of the sun are temporarily unavailable. Why? The telescope's CCD camera is being baked out.


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 Mar 14 2203 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 2006 Mar 14 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 10 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 15 %
MINOR 05 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 14 Mar 2006
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The space station is visible in the night sky this month. Would you like to see it? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

WORM MOON: According to folklore, tonight's full moon is the Worm Moon. It heralds warm Spring days, thawing ground, robins and earthworms. If you're located in the eastern USA, you might behold a rare "Eclipse of the Worm Moon." Details below...

LUNAR ECLIPSE: When the full moon rises tonight, March 14th, look for a pale shadow darkening the moon's southern hemisphere. That is the shadow of Earth, and if you can see it, you've spotted a penumbral lunar eclipse.


A penumbral eclipse. Photo credit: Matt Wastell of Brisbane, Australia. April 24, 2005.

Penumbral eclipses are not as dramatic as total eclipses. A penumbral eclipse involves only the pale fringe of Earth's shadow while a total eclipse happens in the shadow's dark red core. Both are fun to observe. Galleries: penumbral vs. total.

Maximum eclipse occurs between 6:18 p.m. and 7:18 p.m. EST on March 14th (14/2318 UT and 15/0018 UT). Observers in Europe, Africa and eastern parts of North America are favored; the eclipse will not be visible from California and other western US states: visibility map.

EXTRA: Watch an animation of the eclipse created by graphic artist Larry Koehn.

JUPITER MOVIE: They call Jupiter the "giant planet" for a reason: It's so big, 11 times wider than Earth, that you can see fantastic details through an ordinary backyard telescope. On March 12th, Mike Salway of Brisbane, Australia, made this 90-minute movie using a 10-inch telescope and a CCD video camera:


Click on the image to see the rest of Jupiter.

Dominating the scene is the Great Red Spot, the biggest storm in the solar system; two planet Earths could fit inside with room to spare. Can you also see Jupiter's newest red spot, Red Jr? It pops over the planet's limb near the end of the movie.

If you would like to see Jupiter for yourself, wake up before dawn and look south. Jupiter is the brightest "star" in that part of the sky. You can't miss it.

more images: from Chotechai Piyavongsiri of Bangkok, Thailand (note the shadow of Europa on Jupiter's cloudtops).



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 14 Mar 2006 there were 773 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

March 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
(meters)
2000 PN9

March 6

7.9 LD

12

~2 km
2006 EH1

March 7

2.0 LD

18

~20 m
2006 EC

March 8

0.7 LD

16

~19 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

Daily images from the sun -- from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

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

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