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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: 524.3 km/sec
density: 1.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Apr17
24-hr: A0
0705 UT Apr17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 17 Apr 08
Sunspot 990 is in an advanced state of decay and is no longer visible as a dark spot on the sun. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 16 Apr 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
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: 3.8 nT
Bz: 2.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no well-organized coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Apr 17 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: 2008 Apr 17 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
April 17, 2008
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade.   mySKY

STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON THE MOON: NASA-supported researchers have realized that strange things may be happening on the full Moon when it gets hit by Earth's magnetic tail. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

BIG SPACESHIP: The International Space Station is growing. In the past six months alone, astronauts have unfurled 230-ft solar wings, added a 30,000-lb docking port (Harmony), installed a 28,000-lb science lab (Columbus) and, while they were at it, a European robot ship (Jules Verne) flew up to the ISS and docked itself. It all adds up to a spaceship so big and bright it fills the eyepiece of a backyard telescope:

Bret Dahl took this picture on April 13th from Plano, Texas. "I used a 10-inch Meade LX200, hand guided," he says. "The ISS has made several nice passes over our area in the last week. In the photo, the space station was about 50 degrees above the horizon. It is amazing how bright the ISS has become even at such a low angle."

A new round of flybys over North American begins in early May. Stay tuned for details.

more images: from Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands; from Bill Westphal of Altadena, CA; from Mike Snyder of Cedar Rapids, IA; from Don Lawrence of Sugar Land, Texas; from Robbie Merrill of Fort Collins, CO;

LE RAYON VERT: "After observing a nice sunset on April 15th, I watched the last sliver of Sun sink below the horizon and was amazed as it briefly turned green!" reports Alex Lloyd-Ribeiro of Durham, England. He took these pictures using his Canon 350D on maximum zoom:

Green flashes are caused by a combination of refraction and mirage-action in Earth's atmosphere. They are best seen over a clear ocean horizon, but Lloyd-Ribeiro's photo shows they can appear as well behind trees and hills.

There was a time when green flashes were thought to be fables. Jules Verne popularized their reality in his 1882 novel "Le Rayon Vert" (The Green Ray). He described "a green which no artist could ever obtain on his palette, a green of which neither the varied tints of vegetation nor the shades of the most limpid sea could ever produce the like! If there is a green in Paradise, it cannot be but of this shade, which most surely is the true green of Hope."

The Durham green flash of April 15th may not have been the most dramatic, but it does remind us to be alert for Le Rayon Vert.

more images: from Richard Watson of Gold Beach Oregon; from Alfredo Garcia Jr of Hermosa Beach, CA; from Karen Harris of Waianae, Oahu, Hawaii; from Mila Zinkova of San Francisco, California;


April 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. [comment]
On April 17, 2008 there were 947 potentially hazardous asteroids.
April 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 FH5
Apr. 2
7.6 LD
20
17 m
2001 QO142
Apr. 6
34 LD
17
685 m
2008 GF1
Apr. 7
0.8 LD
18
10 m
2005 BE2
Apr. 10
62 LD
18
1.0 km
2005 NB7
Apr. 17
16 LD
16
705 m
2008 FU6
Apr. 22
62 LD
16
1.4 km
2005 TB
Apr. 28
47 LD
18
1.3 km
2001 DQ8
Apr. 30
74 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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