| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 5 storm 24-hr max: Kp= 5 storm explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 7.8 nT Bz: 1.3 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2351 UT Coronal Holes: 17 Dec 17 Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. . Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft show that the 2017 northern summer season for noctilucent clouds has finished. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated at: 09-03-2017 01:55:03 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2017 Dec 17 2200 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: 2017 Dec 17 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 40 % | 35 % | MINOR | 25 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 05 % | 05 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 10 % | MINOR | 25 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 55 % | 55 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Lights Over Lapland is excited to announce that we now have TWO aurora webcams covering nearly a 200° view of Abisko National Park in Sweden! Watch the auroras dance live, all season long here. | | | THE SOLAR WIND HAS ARRIVED: A G1-class geomagnetic storm is underway on Dec. 17th as Earth moves into a stream of solar wind moving faster than 600 km/s. The gaseous material is flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere. G1-class storms are relatively minor and have little effect on power grids and satellites. However, they can confuse migratory animals that navigate using magnetism at high latitudes and, moreover, may spark bright auroras around the Arctic Circle. Free: Aurora Alerts. At 2:30 Sunday morning in Kakwa, Alberta, Canada, Catalin Tapardel decided to take the garbage out before bed. Perfect timing. The solar wind had just arrived: "The lights started slowly to build up and at apex of the show the lights were so bright that the ground turned green," says Tapardel. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery BUY A TICKET TO THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas shopping for a young scientist? Consider this: For the holiday season only, we're reducing the cost of payload space on Earth to Sky Calculus balloons from $500 to only $299. Buy a ticket to space before Dec. 25th and your student can send an experiment, photo, or keepsake item to the stratosphere, completely supported by an Earth to Sky Calculus launch and recovery team. This is not only a great Christmas gift, but also a good kickstarter for science fair projects. Experiments will be flown and returned along with video footage, GPS tracking, temperature, pressure, altimetry and radiation data. To take advantage of the discounted rate, payment must be received before Dec. 25th. However, the flight can take place at any time in the next 12 months. Conditions: No mammals. Plants and non-pathogenic microbes are allowed. Generally speaking, experiments should weigh less than a few hundred grams and occupy a volume less than that of a school lunchbox. A brainstorming session is included with each certificate. Dr. Tony Phillips and other members of the Earth to Sky team will chat with recipients to help them craft an experiment that will work in the harsh environment of the stratosphere. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All proceeds support hands-on STEM education HEAVENLY GEMINIDS: The Geminid meteor shower peaked on Dec. 14th with as many as 140 meteors per hour, according to the International Meteor Organization. The shower was rich in fireballs (meteors brighter than Venus). NASA's network of all-sky meteor cameras captured more than 400 fireballs over the USA alone. In Japan, astrophotographer "Kagaya" set up his camera at the Oarai Isosaki-jinja Shrine in Ibaraki and caught a Geminid disintegrating brilliantly behind one of the shrine's iconic Torii gates: In the Shinto religion, Torii gates are considered portals to the sacred. In this case, it led to a heavenly Geminid. "I waited by the gate 4 hours to catch a meteor in just the right position for a good photo--well worth it for a fireball of this magnitude," says Kagaya. "Note that you can see the meteor's reflection in the water," he points out. More scenes from the 2017 Geminid meteor shower may be found in our realtime photo gallery. Browse and enjoy! Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Dec. 17, 2017, the network reported 19 fireballs. (14 sporadics, 2 December Monocerotids, 1 Geminid, 1 sigma Hydrid, 1 December Leonis Minorid) In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 December 17, 2017 there were 1872 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2017 XS60 | 2017-Dec-12 | 12.8 LD | 19.1 | 20 | 2017 WE13 | 2017-Dec-12 | 16.4 LD | 5.3 | 26 | 2017 VS14 | 2017-Dec-12 | 15.8 LD | 2.8 | 15 | 2017 XU60 | 2017-Dec-13 | 9 LD | 10.2 | 14 | 2017 WJ28 | 2017-Dec-13 | 12.8 LD | 6 | 21 | 2015 XX169 | 2017-Dec-14 | 9.7 LD | 6.3 | 11 | 2006 XY | 2017-Dec-14 | 3.4 LD | 4.9 | 56 | 2017 XY2 | 2017-Dec-15 | 4.5 LD | 8.2 | 14 | 2017 XK1 | 2017-Dec-15 | 6.2 LD | 12.2 | 32 | 2017 XR2 | 2017-Dec-15 | 12.2 LD | 9.4 | 44 | 2017 XD2 | 2017-Dec-15 | 14.4 LD | 12.3 | 69 | 2017 VT14 | 2017-Dec-17 | 3.8 LD | 10.4 | 84 | 2017 XT60 | 2017-Dec-17 | 8 LD | 7 | 12 | 2017 XW60 | 2017-Dec-18 | 5.2 LD | 8.8 | 9 | 2011 YD29 | 2017-Dec-19 | 17.6 LD | 7.7 | 20 | 2017 WX12 | 2017-Dec-21 | 10 LD | 11.4 | 137 | 2017 XR60 | 2017-Dec-21 | 13 LD | 6.2 | 49 | 2017 XQ60 | 2017-Dec-21 | 13.4 LD | 15.7 | 49 | 2017 TS3 | 2017-Dec-22 | 18.1 LD | 10.2 | 137 | 418849 | 2017-Dec-22 | 15.3 LD | 17.4 | 257 | 2015 YQ1 | 2017-Dec-22 | 17.3 LD | 11.1 | 9 | 2017 WZ14 | 2017-Dec-24 | 7.6 LD | 4.9 | 33 | 2017 XG1 | 2017-Dec-29 | 16.4 LD | 9.9 | 38 | 2017 QL33 | 2017-Dec-30 | 13.3 LD | 8.2 | 190 | 2015 RT1 | 2018-Jan-02 | 19.7 LD | 9 | 30 | 2004 FH | 2018-Jan-10 | 20 LD | 8.5 | 26 | 306383 | 2018-Jan-22 | 14.4 LD | 17.4 | 178 | 2002 CB19 | 2018-Feb-02 | 10.5 LD | 15.6 | 36 | 276033 | 2018-Feb-04 | 11 LD | 34 | 646 | 2015 BN509 | 2018-Feb-09 | 12.9 LD | 17.7 | 257 | 1991 VG | 2018-Feb-11 | 18.4 LD | 2.1 | 7 | 2014 WQ202 | 2018-Feb-11 | 15.1 LD | 19.8 | 62 | 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. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere | Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here: This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California. What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015: Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation. The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | | Reviews here can help you to pick up best memory foam mattresses. | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | | | | | ©2017 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |