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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: 469.7 km/s
density:
3.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2244 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B1 1935 UT Jan24
24-hr: B2 0455 UT Jan24
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 24 Jan '04
None of these sunspots pose a threat for strong solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

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


Sunspot Number: 62
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 23 Jan 2004

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 11.1 nT
Bz:
7.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no big coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. Image 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 2004 Jan 24 2200 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 10 % 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 2004 Jan 24 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 05 %
SEVERE 05 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 25 %
MINOR 10 % 05 %
SEVERE 05 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 24 Jan 2004
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VENUS & THE MOON: Venus and the crescent moon are beautifully close together tonight. When the sun starts to set and the sky turns pink, step outside and look southwest. The pair are so bright you won't have to wait until dark to see them. Can you also see a ghostly glow across the dark part of the moon? That's Earthshine. Don't miss it! [sky map]

Pictures: from Alex Roca of Hortoneda, Spain; from Cindy Safina of Hong Kong; from Jan Koeman of Kloetinge, The Netherlands; from Vasilis Wooseas of Greece; from Jean-Marie & Geoffrey Maillard of Waremme, Belgium; from Patrick Jablonski of France.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: "I stepped out on the deck [at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 23rd] to see how much snow I would have to scrape off my truck and noticed these morning auroras over the city," says Peter Davies of Anchorage, Alaska: (continued below)

The display marked the peak of a two-day geomagnetic storm that began on Jan. 22nd when a coronal mass ejection hit Earth's magnetic field. Sky watchers across northern Europe, Canada and Alaska saw auroras like these--bright enough to shine through city lights and rush hour traffic. [gallery]

SUN MIRAGE: The temperature outside was -45 F, and Graham Stark of Fairbanks, Alaska, didn't want to leave the house. "I was afraid the camera would freeze to my hand." So he took this picture through a thick window. It's the sun. "I have never witnessed such extreme distortions of the sun. At one point it took the shape of a square and at another it resembled a frog." More images: #1, #2, #3.

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains: "This fantastic shaped sun is an example of a complex mirage formed when there is a temperature inversion, a layer of cooler air sandwiched between two hotter layers. Inversions can produce multiple images; each part of the shape is a mirage of a particular slice across the sun. As the altitude of the sun changes or the air layers shift the distorted slices fatten or slim."

"We sometimes think of mirages as a summer sight over hot tarmac or deserts," he adds, "but Stark's photos show that they can occur also when it is very cold. "



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 24 Jan 2004 there were 569 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

December 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2003 YS17

Jan 14

14 LD

 17
2001 BE10

Jan 15

23 LD

 14
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 --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 Soft 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.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

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; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

Editor's Note: This site is sponsored by Science@NASA. Space weather and other forecasts that appear here are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They should not be construed as guarantees of space weather or other celestial activity.

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