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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: 503.9 km/s
density:
1.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2240 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B8 2045 UT Sep18
24-hr: B9 0535 UT Sep18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 18 Sep '05

Sunspot 798 is decaying, but it could still unleash another X-flare. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 59
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 17 Sep 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large 'spots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz:
0.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT


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 Sep 18 2204 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 50 % 50 %
CLASS X 20 % 20 %

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 Sep 18 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 30 %
MINOR 15 % 15 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 40 % 40 %
MINOR 15 % 15 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 18 Sep 2005
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HARVEST MOON: That bright light beaming through your bedroom window tonight--it's the Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the beginning of autumn. The Harvest Moon is big, bright, and it behaves in a special way. Click here to find out how.

Above: The Harvest Moon over Selsey, West Sussex, UK. "Thick patches of cloud acted as a natural filter allowing me to capture some of the surrounding cloud colour and retain detail on the Moon's face," says photographer Pete Lawrence.

more images: from Steve Irvine near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada; from Howard Eskildsen of Ocala Florida;

SUNSPOT 798: Hyperactive sunspot 798, which unleashed nine X-class solar flares this month, including a colossal X17-flare, is breaking up. But it might not go away quietly. NOAA forecasters say there's a robust 30% chance of more X-flares during the next 24 hours.

Two days from now, sunspot 798 will rotate around the sun's western limb, disappearing from view, and the chance of Earth-directed flares from the active region will drop to zero.

Right: On Sept. 17th, Didier Favre of Los Angeles, CA, was photographing sunspot 798 when a passing bird tried to steal the show. "Catch the sunspot if you can!" says Favre.

September 2005 Aurora Gallery



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 18 Sep 2005 there were 710 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

August 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
1992 UY4

August 8

16 LD

 12
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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