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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: 474.1 km/s
density:
0.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B2 2230 UT May17
24-hr: M1 0240 UT May17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 17 May '05

Sunspots 763 and 759 pose a continuing threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 70
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 16 May 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals one sunspot group on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.2 nT
Bz:
2.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no big coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. Image credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope


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 2005 May 16 2204 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 50 % 50 %
CLASS X 10 % 10 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2005 May 16 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 25 %
MINOR 25 % 10 %
SEVERE 15 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 17 May 2005
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Did you miss Saturday night's aurora storm? Next time get a wake-up call: Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

FRIDAY THE 13th, 2029: Who says Friday the 13th is a bad day? On Friday, April 13, 2029, asteroid 2004 MN4 is going to hurtle perilously close to Earth--and miss. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

AURORA WEEKEND: Auroras in Nebraska? California? Arizona? Believe it. On Saturday night, May 14th, Northern Lights rippled across the United States during an intense geomagnetic storm. The display was triggered by a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) hitting Earth's magnetic field. So much for the quiet sun.

Above: Red auroras filled the skies above Marinette, Wisconsin on May 15th. "The reds actually painted the foreground of the picture without enhancement ... awesome," says photographer Rob Brumm.

May 14th-15th Aurora Gallery

CATSTRONOMER: Why did the feline look through the telescope? To find the Cat's Eye Nebula, of course. Marc Staves of Tupper Lake, NY, caught his cat looking on May 10th:



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 17 May 2005 there were 696 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

May-July 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2005 JT1

May 11

6.9 LD

 19
2005 ED318

May 23

6.3 LD

 14
2000 AG6

July 22

8.7 LD

 20
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

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star 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.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; Jan-Mar., 2005;

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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