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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: 391.3 km/sec
density: 0.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
2145 UT May22
24-hr: B1
2145 UT May22
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 22 May 10
Sunspot 1072 is growing and poses a threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 15
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 21 May 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 33 days (24%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 801 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 21 May 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 71 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 21 May 2010

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: 3.4 nT
Bz: 2.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 May 22 2201 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: 2010 May 22 2201 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
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
May 22, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

BIG MYSTERY: In a surprising development that has transformed the appearance of the solar system's largest planet, one of Jupiter's two main cloud belts has completely disappeared. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

ALIEN BEAUTY: Multiwavelength images of the sun beamed to Earth by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory have a beauty that can only be described as ... alien. We've never seen the sun quite like this before. Consider the following picture taken just hours ago by SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly:

The image is a composite of three extreme ultraviolet wavelengths: 211 Å (false-color yellow) 193 Å (green) and 171 Å (blue), each tracing a different gas temperature ranging from 1 to 2 million degrees K. Highlights of today's sun include an enormous magnetic filament bisecting the northeastern quadrant, a coronal hole, and a new sunspot: labels. And that's just for starters. The high-resolution copy of this image shows many more weird and interesting things. Go ahead and take a look; it really is your star.

SPACE STATION TRANSIT: Yesterday over Leer, Germany, the International Space Station (ISS) passed directly in front of the sun, splitting the distance between a dark magnetic filament and sunspot 1072:

"The transit-path was just 14km away from my backyard observatory," says photographer Dirk Lucius. "I loaded my Coronado 90 into the car and drove to the position of the central transit. This is the result of my short trip. The ISS crossed the sun in just 0.72 seconds."

The ISS crosses the sun (and Moon) more often than you might suppose. Transit predictions are available from CalSky.

more images: from Jerome Delpau of Moncé en Belin, France; from Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands; from Pete Lardizabal of St Johns, Florida; from David Dickinson of Hudson, Florida; from Syed Baqir Naqvi of Quetta, Pakistan


May 2010 Aurora Gallery
[previous Mays: 2008, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002] [aurora alerts]

 
       
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 May 22, 2010 there were 1127 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 JR34
May 14
5.8 LD
21
12 m
2003 HR32
May 17
55.2 LD
17
1.0 km
2010 JN71
May 26
8.2 LD
18
245 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 space weather bureau
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.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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