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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: 499.4 km/sec
density: 0.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Dec24
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Dec24
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 24 Dec 08
The Earth-facing side of the sun is blank--no sunspots. There are, however, one or two active regions just over the eastern limb. See the "New Sunspots" story at right. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 23 Dec. 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz: 0.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT
Coronal Holes:
Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Dec 24 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: 2008 Dec 24 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
December 24, 2008

UNIQUE CHRISTMAS GIFT: For less than the cost of a night at the movies, you can give someone the heavens for Christmas. Now available: gift subscriptions to Spaceweather PHONE.

 

SANTA SIGHTINGS: Santa Claus has been sighted--and he's on foot. Marek Nikodem sends this photo of St. Nick from Szubin, Poland. "Santa seems to be following the Christmas Star, a.k.a. Venus," he says. One can only assume the reindeer are not far behind. Update: Hours later, Koshu Endo spotted the sleigh flying past Saturn over Tokyo, Japan. A close-up shot by astrophotographer Jason Ware reveals that Santa is back on board.

NEW SUNSPOTS: This morning, Dec. 24th, NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft photographed a pair of active regions emerging in the sun's southern hemisphere. Clouds of hot glowing gas detected by STEREO's extreme UV telescope probably mask a pair of new-cycle sunspots underneath:

The clouds and spots are not yet visible from Earth. STEREO-B is stationed over the sun's eastern limb where it can see things up to three days before the sun's rotation turns them toward our planet. So, consider this a sneak preview.

Readers, if you have a solar telescope, keep an eye on the eastern limb. Something is coming. ETA: Dec. 26th.

INDUSTRIAL GRADE DIAMOND DUST: "A few mornings ago, I was driving to work on Green Bay's highest bridge when a mixture of fog and emissions from local smokestacks drifted across the highway," reports Peg Zenko from Wisconsin. "Traffic slowed to a crawl. I looked up in my rearview mirror and noticed this beautiful sun pillar."

"I call the photo Industrial Grade Diamond Dust," she says.

Diamond dust is a fanciful name for low-temperature ice crystals floating close to the ground. "The air temperature over the bridge was only -9 F," notes Zenko, "and winds were mild." These conditions caused water vapor in the smog to crystallize and hover at traffic-level. The crystals caught the rays of the rising sun and voilĂ --a sun pillar!

Winter weather storming across Canada and the northern USA is setting the stage for some wonderfully icy displays. There are sun pillars, sundogs, 22o haloes and a variety of luminous arcs. "I suggest pulling to the side of the road," says Zenko. Diamond dust can be very distracting!

more images: from Dave Boyle of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; from Gary Cobus near Belle Plain, Minnesota;


Dec. 2008 Northern Lights Gallery
[Previous Decembers: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2001, 2000]

       
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 December 24, 2008 there were 1012 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Dec. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 WY94
Dec. 5
3.2 LD
19
35 m
2008 WG14
Dec. 5
4.8 LD
17
49 m
2008 XK
Dec. 6
1.7 LD
17
15 m
2008 XC1
Dec. 12
4.3 LD
16
102 m
2008 XB2
Dec. 13
5.8 LD
18
47 m
2006 VB14
Dec. 14
36 LD
15
795 m
2008 EV5
Dec. 23
8.4 LD
13
435 m
2008 YQ2
Dec. 24
8.6 LD
18
49 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
  a one-stop hub for all things scientific
  more links...
   
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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