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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 596.8 km/s
density:
1.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max:
A0 1650 UT Dec19
24-hr: A5 0030 UT Dec19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 19 Dec '06

Active sunspot 930 is gone. The sun is blank. Solar activity is low. Credit:
SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 18 Dec 2006

Far Side of the Sun

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.0 nT
Bz:
2.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Dec. 20th. 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 Dec 19 2204 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 2006 Dec 19 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 30 %
MINOR 10 % 15 %
SEVERE 05 % 10 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 40 % 45 %
MINOR 15 % 25 %
SEVERE 10 % 20 %

What's Up in Space -- 19 Dec 2006
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DOUBLE FLYBY: The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to undock from the ISS tonight at 5:09 pm EST. The two spacecraft will then fly side-by-side over the United States where many people can see the pair in the evening sky. Check Heavens Above for flyby times or sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE to receive personalized flyby phone calls.

AURORAS FROM SPACE: How bright were the auroras of Dec. 14th? As bright as city lights and easily seen from space. A US Air Force DMSP satellite took this picture from orbit 830 km above the United States:

The bright arc stretching from Montana to Maine is the aurora borealis. In many places it completely overwhelms the city lights below.

"The DMSP satellite has the ability to detect auroral light at night," says Paul McCrone of the Air Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB in Nebraska. "These images are mosaics of various DMSP overflights on Dec. 12-13, Dec. 13-14, and Dec 14-15. The Dec. 14th image is quite striking."

December 2006 Aurora Gallery
Updated: December 18th

WHEN THE ISS MEETS SATURN: On Dec. 7th, the International Space Station (ISS) flew over Beijing, China--and right by the planet Saturn. Three astronomers, Xiang Zhan, Xin Li and Jin Zhu of the Beijing Planetarium, photographed the encounter through a 4-inch telescope:


Click to view a 9-frame movie

"Although the two objects looked so close," says Zhan, "the ISS was about 400 kilometers above us while Saturn was over 1.3 billion kilometers from Earth."

Their video illustrates something not widely known: The ISS looks wonderful through a backyard telescope. Solar wings and living quarters are clear and distinct. Seen from Earth, the station is wider than the rings of Saturn!



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 19 Dec 2006 there were 836 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Dec 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 WQ127

Dec. 2

7.9 LD

19

~94 m
2006 WB

Dec. 5

7.0 LD

17

~130 m
2004 XL14

Dec. 20

10.1 LD

15

~225 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.

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 -- from the National Solar Data Analysis Center

X-ray images of the Sun: GOES-12 and GOES-13

Recent Solar Events -- a summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

What is the Magnetosphere?

The Lion Roars -- visit this site to find out what the magnetosphere sounds like.

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft.

How powerful are solar wind gusts? Not very! 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 1996 to 2006

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; Apr-Jun 2006; Jul-Sep 2006; Oct-Dec 2006.

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


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