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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: 347.5 km/sec
density: 20.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Aug16
24-hr: A0
0045 UT Aug16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 16 Aug 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 14 Aug. 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= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
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: 5.0 nT
Bz: 1.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Aug. 18th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Aug 16 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 Aug 16 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
30 %
MINOR
05 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
50 %
MINOR
10 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
10 %
What's up in Space
August 16, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of July 12th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

ANCIENT THINGS: Strange, but true. Looking into the eyes of a sturgeon conjures up a feeling of great age and primeval waters. What? No sturgeon handy? Instead, try looking at tonight's full Moon, named the "Sturgeon Moon" by Native Americans of the Great Lakes after the primitive fish they once caught in abundance at this time of year. The Sturgeon Moon has all the age without the fishy smell.

And don't forget....

THE ECLIPSE--UNDERWAY NOW: If it's dark where you live, go outside and look. A partial eclipse of the Moon is underway. Otherwise, check these live webcasts: from the Netherlands; from Norway; from the Canary Islands; from Iran.

"The partial eclipse was a wonderful sight in the early morning sky of Bright, Australia," reports Rob Kaufman. "This shot of the setting eclipse was taken with a Canon 400D, 1 sec at ISO 400, F/5.6, 200mm."

NEAR-MISS GREEN FLASH: On August 12th, Herfried Eisler of Amsterdam was photographing the sunset when an airplane intervened. "A band of blue-green light appeared just above the airplane's cabin," he says. "It was very pretty."

What caused the colors? Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains:

"Look through a simple magnifying class and you will see objects fringed with color. Likewise, our atmosphere acts as a giant lens, and when the sun is low, the atmosphere gives it a green or blue upper rim. Usually these colorful rims are too narrow to see by eye. Here, however, the colors have been slightly spread by miraging and its just possible that the airflow over the airplane has helped. I would class this sun distortion as a 'near miss green flash.'"


2008 Perseid Meteor Gallery
[Previous Perseids: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]

       
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 August 16, 2008 , there were 971 potentially hazardous asteroids.
August 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
54509 YORP
Aug. 1
67 LD
22
130 m
2008 PK9
Aug. 11
11 LD
18
50 m
2008 ON10
Aug. 11
12 LD
19
50 m
2001 RT17
Aug. 14
69 LD
17
1.2 km
1991 VH
Aug. 15
18 LD
15
1.8 km
2008 MZ
Aug. 31
60 LD
17
1.1 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 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.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
   
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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