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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 422.3 km/s
density:
2.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A0 1725 UT Oct16
24-hr: A0 1725 UT Oct16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 16 Oct '06

The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit:
SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 15 Oct 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: 2.9 nT
Bz:
0.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on Oct. 19th or 20th. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.


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 Oct 16 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 Oct 16 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 -- 16 Oct 2006
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Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.

MILD AURORAS: A solar wind stream hit Earth on Oct. 13th and sparked mild auroras over Scandinavia and Canada. A better display is possible on Oct. 19th or 20th when a more powerful solar wind stream is due.

WILD SUN: No, it's not science fiction. Space artist Mark Seibold really did see this through his solar telescope on Oct. 13th:


Rendered in pastel: the view through a SolarMax40 solar telescope.

It's a prominence--a glowing cloud of solar hydrogen held together by magnetic force fields. All weekend long, it danced along the sun's limb, mesmerizing photographers and artists alike. "I couldn't resist making this spirited pastel sketch," says Seibold.

Bad news: It's gone now--erupted! But don't put away your pastels. Big prominences pop up every week or so.

more images: from Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland; from Franck Charlier of Marines, Val d'Oise - France; from Robert Arnold on the Isle of Skye, Scotland; from Joel Bavais of Ath, Belgium; from Britta Suhre of Dortmund, NRW, Germany; from Rob Greaves of Warboys, UK; from John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine; from Erika Rix of Zanesville, Ohio;

CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: If this happened at midnight, it would be big news for sky watchers. Instead, it's happening at noon, and no one can see it.

"It" is a convergence of Venus, Mars and the bright star Spica. The three have surrounded the sun in a triangle only a few degrees wide:


Photo credit: Mila Zinkova in Pacifica, California.

Humans can't see the convergence, but SOHO can. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has an onboard coronagraph, which blocks the glare of the sun to reveal nearby stars and planets. The celestial triangle will be most compact on Oct. 17th. Join SOHO for a ringside seat.



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 16 Oct 2006 there were 803 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Aug-Sept 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 QM111

Aug 31

0.4 LD

21

13 m
2006 QQ56

Sept. 2

7.9 LD

18

29 m
2006 QV89

Sept. 5

7.9 LD

18

40 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.

Recommended: Earth & Sky

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.

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;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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


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