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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: 604.6 km/sec
density: 2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Jan18
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Jan18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 18 Jan 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 16 Jan 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side 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
Updated:
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.6 nT
Bz: 0.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT
Coronal Holes:
Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: Hinode X-Ray Telescope.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Jan 18 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 Jan 18 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
25 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %

What's up in Space
January 18, 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.

ASTEROID FLYBY: Mark your calendar: On Jan. 29, 2008, asteroid 2007 TU24 flies past Earth. There's no danger of a collision, but the 400m-wide space rock will be close enough (1.4 lunar distances) to photograph through backyard telescopes as it speeds through the constellation Cassiopeia glowing like a 10th magnitude star. NASA radars will be monitoring the asteroid's approach beginning Jan. 23rd. [ephemeris] [orbit]

HUBBLE TRANSIT: One of the spots on photo of the sun is not a sunspot. It's the Hubble Space Telescope. Can you find it?


Photo details: Canon 5D, 4" Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor, f/20, 1/6000s

Celebrated astrophotographer Thierry Legault took the picture on Dec. 8, 2007, from Jacksonville, Florida. Legault is well-known for another, earlier photo of the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Atlantis crossing the sun in 2006. Unlike the crisp silhouette of the ISS, however, Hubble's shadow is barely a speck. The key difference is scale: ISS masses almost half a million kilograms with solar arrays nearly as wide as a football field. Hubble weighs in at 11,000 kg packed into a volume not much larger than a Greyhound bus.

How do you catch such a small object in a split-second transit of the sun? Legault reveals his secrets here.

MERCURY FLYBY: "Discoveries are at hand!" So say members of the MESSENGER science team after 500 megabytes of data have been safely downloaded to Earth following the spacecraft's Jan. 14th flyby of Mercury. This picture of a crater field was taken from a range of 3100 miles:

Note the linear crater chains on the right created by ejecta from the main impact on the left: diagram.

Researchers are only beginning to sift through more than 1200 photos covering a hemisphere of Mercury never seen before. Highlights so far include the first complete views of giant Caloris Basin, one of the biggest impact features in the solar system, a strangely fractured double-ringed crater, and a beautifully-shadowed image of the crater Sholem Aleichem. Stay tuned for updates!


Comet 17P/Holmes Photo Gallery
[World Map of Comet Sightings]
[sky map] [ephemeris] [3D orbit] [comet binoculars]

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 January 18, 2008 there were 921 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Jan. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2005 WJ56
Jan. 10
10.9 LD
11
1.2 km
2008 AF3
Jan. 13
1.0 LD
14
27 m
1685 Toro
Jan. 24
76 LD
13
6.2 km
2007 TU24
Jan. 29
1.4 LD
10
400 m
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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