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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 483.2 km/sec
density: 0.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2343 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
2009 UT Jun26
24-hr: B3
2009 UT Jun26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 26 Jun 11
Big sunspot 1236 will soon disappear over the sun's western limb. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 47
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 25 Jun 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 25 Jun 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 94 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 25 Jun 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 1.8 nT
Bz: 0.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2343 UT
Coronal Holes: 26 Jun 11
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole will reach Earth on or about July 1st.. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jun 26 2200 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: 2011 Jun 26 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Sunday, Jun. 26, 2011
What's up in space
 

Turn your cell phone into a field-tested satellite tracker. Works for Android and iPhone.

 
Satellite flybys

INCOMING ASTEROID MOVIE: Click here. That was a movie of incoming asteroid 2011 MD. Astronomer Rafael Ferrando recorded the streaking space rock on June 25th using a 16-inch telescope at the Observatory Pla d'Arguines in Segorbe, Spain. Read the story "Asteroid Flyby," below, for more information about this object.

ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid 2011 MD will pass only 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) above Earth's surface on Monday June 27 at about 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 UT). NASA analysts say there is no chance the space rock will strike Earth. Nevertheless, the encounter is so close that Earth's gravity will sharply alter the asteroid's trajectory:

At closest approach, 2011 MD will pass in broad daylight over the southern Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Antarctica. As the asteroid recedes from Earth, it will pass through the zone of geosynchronous satellites. The chances of a collision with a satellite or manmade space junk are extremely small, albeit not zero.

Judging from the brightness of the asteroid, it measures only 5 to 20 meters in diameter. According to JPL's Near Earth Object Program office, one would expect an object of this size to come this close to Earth about every 6 years on average. For a brief time, it will be bright enough to be seen even with a medium-sized backyard telescope. [observing tips] [3D orbit]

SPACE STATION TRANSIT: Blink your eyes. That's about how long it takes the International Space Station traveling at 17,000 mph to cross the face of the sun. Yesterday, June 24th, photographer Dennis Simmons recorded a split-second transit over Brisbane, Australia:

Simmons explains how he did it: "According to Calsky, the ISS was scheduled to cross the sun at 12:47 pm with the centerline passing over Cleveland, a bayside suburb of Brisbane. The width of the ground track was only ± 6 km. If I was outside of this narrow strip, I would miss the transit. I set up my equipment early; the entire transit lasted only 0.83 seconds, and I did not want to miss those fleeting 83/100s of a second after carting all my gear to the Foreshore Park at Cleveland only 160 meters from the centerline. A Canon 7D digital camera attached to my telescope recorded the transit beautifully."

Simmons notes that a safe solar filter is essential for this kind of work. "Never look at the sun through an unfiltered telescope or camera lens – you will destroy your eyes," he says.

more transits: from Steve Riegel of Albuquerque, New Mexico


June 2011 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora alerts: text, voice] [previous Junes: 2010, 2008, 2001]


June 15th Lunar Eclipse Gallery

  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 June 26, 2011 there were 1237 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 MX
Jun 20
2.5 LD
--
18 m
2011 MD
Jun 27
0.05 LD
--
10 m
2011 GA55
Jul 6
64.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2011 EZ78
Jul 10
37.3 LD
--
1.6 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 km
2007 DD
Jul 23
9.3 LD
--
31 m
2003 BK47
Jul 26
77.6 LD
--
1.0 km
2009 AV
Aug 22
49.7 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 QC10
Sep 18
50 LD
--
1.2 km
2004 SV55
Sep 19
67.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2007 TD
Sep 23
3.8 LD
--
58 m
2002 AG29
Oct 9
77.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2000 OJ8
Oct 13
49.8 LD
--
2.5 km
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
Science Central
 
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