You are viewing the page for Oct. 25, 2003
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
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: 471.9 km/s
density:
1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C6 2230 UT Oct25
24-hr: M1 0600 UT Oct25
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 25 Oct '03
Sunspots 484 and 486 pose a threat for strong X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals one large sunspot on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 160
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 24 Oct 2003

Coronal Holes:

Earth could encounter a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole as soon as Oct. 27th. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
More about coronal holes

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 12.2 nT
Bz:
9.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


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 2003 Oct 25 2200 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 85 % 85 %
CLASS X 40 % 40 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2003 Oct 25 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 30 %
MINOR 30 % 30 %
SEVERE 15 % 10 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 30 % 30 %
MINOR 40 % 40 %
SEVERE 25 % 20 %

What's Up in Space -- 25 Oct 2003
Subscribe to Space Weather News!

Would you like a phone call when auroras appear over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

ARIZONA AURORAS: Many people think you can only see auroras from far-north places like Alaska and Canada. Not so. Photographer Chris Schur catches them surprisingly often from Arizona. Pictured right, for example, are some deep red auroras Chris photographed on Oct. 21st. Click here to learn how he does it.

Such auroras are possible tonight if a coronal mass ejection, suspected to be en route to Earth, brushes past our planet's magnetic field. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of severe geomagnetic activity at middle latitudes.

GIANT SUNSPOTS: Astronomers can't remember the last time this happened: two Jupiter-sized sunspots crossing the face of the sun at the same time. Chris Blomquist of Ft Lauderdale, Florida, saw them while the sun was setting on Oct. 23rd, and he took this picture: (continued below)

Indeed, these sunspots (named "484" and "486") are easy to see, but never look directly at the sun. Use safe solar observing methods instead.

more sunspot photos: from Paul Ng of Hong Kong; from Donald Parker of Coral Gables, Florida; from Paul Zoch of Chula Vista, California; from Wojtek Rychlik of Cascade, Colorado; from Don Murray of Scranton, Pennsylvania; from William Trost of New Carlisle, Ohio; from Bruno Nolf of Belgium; from teacher Charles Kiesel and his 5th grade class at St. Joseph Elementary School in Princeton, Indiana; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from Dr. Shawn Cruzen of Columbus, Georgia; from Richard Bennion of Belmont, California; from Ginger Mayfield of Divide, Colorado; from John Locker of Wirral, UK; from Denis Joye of Paris, France;

ZODIACAL LIGHTS: The moon is new, the morning sky is dark, and so this weekend is a good time to look for Zodiacal Lights. Also known as the "false dawn" because they resemble a hint of sunrise, Zodiacal Lights appear an hour or so before true dawn--a pale luminous triangle jutting upward from the eastern horizon.

Canadian Dominic Cantin took this recent picture of Zodiacal Lights side by side with auroras. The two kinds of lights are unrelated. Auroras are caused by geomagnetic storms. Zodiacal Lights are caused by sunlight-reflecting dust particles adrift among the planets.

Early-morning Zodiacal Lights are most easily seen in Sept. and Oct. because those are months when the dusty plane of our solar system pokes over the horizon almost vertically. Rural areas with clear skies offer the best view.



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 25 Oct 2003 there were 540 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

October 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2003 SS84

Oct. 11

8 LD

 17
1998 FG2

Oct. 21

15 LD

 17
2003 TL4

Oct. 26

12 LD

 15
2001 KZ66

Oct. 30

31 LD

 16
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: Space weather and other forecasts that appear on this site are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They are not official statements of any government agency (including NASA) nor should they be construed as guarantees of space weather or other celestial activity.

You are visitor number 24979733 since January 2000.

Copyright 1998-2003
Dr. Tony Phillips
All rights reserved.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.