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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 428.9 km/sec
density: 0.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
1708 UT Jan20
24-hr: B4
1457 UT Jan20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 20 Jan 11
Sunspot 1147 poses a threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 28
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 19 Jan 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (5%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 19 Jan 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 81 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 19 Jan 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.6 nT
Bz: 0.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 20 Jan 10
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jan 20 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: 2011 Jan 20 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
20 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
What's up in space
 

Turn your cell phone into a field-tested satellite tracker. Works for Android and iPhone.

 
Satellite flybys

SOLAR SAIL STUNNER: When NASA's prototype solar sail, NanoSail-D, got stuck onboard its FASTSAT mothership in Dec. 2010, most observers figured the mission was lost. Not so fast. On Jan. 17th, NanoSail-D spontaneously ejected itself into Earth orbit, and the sail could be deployed as early as Jan. 20th. NASA is asking amateur radio operators to listen for NanoSail-D's beacon signal at 437.270 MHz to verify that NanoSail-D is operating. Follow the links for orbital elements, beacon details and submissions.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: The rainstorm is over. A prominence that was raining plasma onto the sun's southwestern limb yesterday erupted during the early hours of Jan. 20th. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:

The prominence hurled part of itself into space, but the resulted plasma cloud was not directed toward Earth. This eruption was merely photogenic, not geoeffective. Now attention turns to the sun's northwestern limb where another eruption is in progress. Stay tuned,

WOLF MOON RISING: Last night, Jan. 19th, as photographer Laurent Laveder was positioning his camera in front of the Tronoen Chapel in Brittany, France, he received a text message from his stepdaughter Manon. "Look at the Moon! :o)" she typed. "She didn't know I already was!" says Laveder. Click on the bell tower to view the movie he recorded, entitled Wolf Moon Rising:

It's called the Wolf Moon because of folklore: northern Native Americans named it after packs of singing wolves they once heard during the winter month of January. "For years, I've been meaning to catch the Wolf Moon rising," says Laveder. "I'm glad I finally did!"

Browse the links for more Wolf Moonshots: from Anthony Ayiomamitis of Athens, Greece; from Keith Breazeal of Amador County, California.; from Azhy Hasan of Erbil City in the Kurdistan region of Iraq; from Mike Caplan of Wadsworth, IL; from Mark Seibold of Sandy, Oregon; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Stefano De Rosa of Turin (Italy); from Àlex Roca of Hortoneda, Lleida, Spain


January 2011 Aurora Photo Gallery
[previous Januaries: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004]


Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: Hinode Observes Annular Solar Eclipse]

  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.
On January 20, 2011 there were 1184 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
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 web links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Science Central
   
  more links...
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