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Solar wind
speed: 319.1 km/sec
density: 0.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
1924 UT Nov25
24-hr: C2
1151 UT Nov25
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 25 Nov 13
Sunspots AR1904 and AR1905 have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. Neither sunspot, however, is facing Earth nor actively flaring. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 69
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 25 Nov 2013

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update
25 Nov 2013

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 127 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 25 Nov 2013

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.4 nT
Bz: 0.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 25 Nov 13
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.

Spaceweather.com is now posting daily satellite images of noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which hover over Earth's poles at the edge of space. The data come from NASA's AIM spacecraft. The north polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from AIM assembled by researchers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Noctilucent Clouds
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 11-25-2013 11:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2013 Nov 25 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
20 %
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: 2013 Nov 25 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
25 %
20 %
SEVERE
25 %
20 %
 
Monday, Nov. 25, 2013
What's up in space
 

Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio.

 
Spaceweather Radio is on the air

NIGHT-SHINING CLOUDS REAPPEAR OVER ANTARCTICA: The southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the first wispy tendrils of NLCs over Antarctica on Nov. 21st and since then the electric-blue clouds have spread and brightened. Scroll down the page and look left for latest images.

COMET MOVIE--UPDATED: Comet ISON is getting all the press, but there is a second comet near the sun as well: Comet Encke. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is monitoring both. Click to view an updated movie of the solar wind buffeting two comets:

In the movie, which spans a three+ day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 23, the sun is to the right, off-screen. At first glance, Earth and Mercury appear to be labeled backwards. The strange arrangement is actually correct. This is how the two planets appear from STEREO-A's vantage point over the farside of the sun.

"The dark 'clouds' moving from left to right are density enhancements in the solar wind, and these are what are causing the ripples you see in the comet tails," explains Karl Battams of NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign.

The ripples could become even more dramatic if a CME hits the comets. This is Comet ISON's first visit to the sun, but Comet Encke has been here before. In 2007 a CME hit Encke and ripped off its tail. Battams and other researchers hope something similar is about to happen now. "I'd love to see a big CME hit Comet ISON," he says in a story from Science@NASA. Watching the impact could teach researchers new things about CMEs and comets.

Stay tuned for updated movies from NASA's solar fleet.

Realtime Comet ISON Photo Gallery

WHICH SIDE OF THE SUN IS FACING COMET ISON? When Comet ISON sweeps through the sun's atmosphere on Nov. 28th, it will be in the 'hot zone' for CMEs. A strike by one of the massive storm clouds probably wouldn't destroy the comet, but it could have a dramatic effect on the comet's fragile tail. The odds of a strike depend on which side of the sun is facing the comet at the time of the flyby. This is something you can monitor using a NASA iPhone app called the Interplanetary 3D Sun:

The app displays an interactive 3D model of the entire sun photographed by extreme UV cameras onboard NASA's twin STEREO probes. The data are realtime and fully interactive (pinch, spin and zoom). As shown in this target list, you can view the sun from many locations around the solar system--including Comet ISON.

Active regions are color-coded by their potential for flares: Orange means "expect M-class solar flares," while red denotes sunspots capable of X-flares. In the screen shot above we see that Comet ISON is bearing down on an active region, AR1904, that poses a threat for M-class eruptions. A CME might be in the offing after all. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

COMET ISON, PARTING SHOTS: As Comet ISON approaches the sun, it is becoming increasingly difficult for observers on Earth to photograph the comet. Indeed, by Nov. 24th it seemed impossible. But it only seemed that way. Working from a high-altitude site in the Canary islands, Juan Carlos Casado successfully imaged Comet ISON on Sunday morning deep inside the rosy glow of dawn:

"I took this picture of Comet ISON on Nov. 24th at 6: 25 UT from the Teide Observatory," says Casado. "The comet was over the distant island of Gran Canaria above a sea of clouds about 1 hour before sunrise and only 16° from the sun. The exceptional atmospheric conditions of Teide Observatory allowed me to capture the image."

Could this be the last clear photo of Comet ISON taken from Earth? No one knows. Stay tuned to the realtime photo gallery for more parting shots:

Realtime Comet ISON Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network
Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Nov. 25, 2013, the network reported 11 fireballs.
(9 sporadics, 1 Leonid, 1 November omega Orionid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

  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 November 25, 2013 there were 1439 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2001 AV43
Nov 18
3 LD
52 m
2013 VK13
Nov 19
8.1 LD
26 m
2010 CL19
Nov 25
37.6 LD
1.3 km
2013 NJ
Nov 26
2.5 LD
190 m
2011 YD29
Dec 28
6.1 LD
24 m
2007 SJ
Jan 21
18.9 LD
1.9 km
2012 BX34
Jan 28
9.6 LD
13 m
2006 DP14
Feb 10
6.2 LD
730 m
2000 EM26
Feb 18
8.8 LD
195 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 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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