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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: 297.8 km/s
density:
1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A3 2150 UT Jul18
24-hr: B1 0820 UT Jul18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 18 Jul '06

Sunspot 900 is growing, but still poses no threat for solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 23
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 17 Jul 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: 4.3 nT
Bz:
1.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on July 20th or 21st. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV 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 2006 Jul 18 2203 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 05 % 05 %
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 Jul 18 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 05 % 05 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

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

What's Up in Space -- 18 Jul 2006
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The Perseid meteor shower is coming. Would you like a call when it's time to look? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

MOON AND PLEIADES: Set your alarm! Before sunrise on Thursday, July 20th, the crescent Moon will have a beautiful close encounter with the Pleiades star cluster. In some places (the eastern and central USA), the Moon will pass directly in front of the cluster. Wherever you live, look east between 2 and 5 o'clock in the morning: sky map.

INFLATABLE SATELLITE: There's a 30-ft balloon orbiting Earth. It's the inflatable Genesis satellite, shown here in a self-portrait by one of Genesis's dozen onboard cameras:

The Russian Space Agency launched Genesis on July 12th for Bigelow Aerospace, a private company with plans to build a space station made of all-inflatable modules. Genesis is a one-third scale prototype designed to test the concept. So far so good. Bigelow reports that all systems are working well.

Would you like to see Genesis? It is visible in the night sky glowing like a 2nd to 3rd magnitude star: flyby alerts.

RED vs RED JR: Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Red Jr. are bumping into each other this week. So far, "the great storms are surviving just fine," reports Don Parker of Coral Gables, Florida, who took this picture on July 15th:


Jupiter--the view through a 16-inch telescope.

Extra: You don't need a fancy camera to make a picture of Jupiter. Last night Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany did it using a pencil and paper: drawing. "Red Jr. is now right under the Great Red Spot," says Wohler.



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 18 Jul 2006 there were 796 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

July 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2004 XP14

Jul 3

1.1 LD

12

600 m
2006 BQ6

Jul 29

14 LD

16

500 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. 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

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;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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


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