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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: 364.1 km/sec
density: 1.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A4
1825 UT Apr27
24-hr: A5
1400 UT Apr27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 27 Apr. 10
The Earth-facing side of the sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 Apr 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 12 days
2010 total: 19 days (16%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 789 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 26 Apr 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 75 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 26 Apr 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.4 nT
Bz: 4.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A coronal hole is emerging over the sun's eastern limb. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Apr 27 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: 2010 Apr 27 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
April 27, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

SPROUTING GRASS MOON: According to folklore, this week's full moon has a special name, the Sprouting Grass Moon, because it shines down on the new grasses of northern spring. Fun: Go outside after dark and look at the ground. Does the grass look green or blue? The answer may surprise you.

CORONAL HOLE: A dark hole has formed in the sun's atmosphere. NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft photographed it just hours ago:

It's a "coronal hole," a vast region where solar magnetic fields have opened up and allowed some of the sun's atmosphere to escape. The runaway atmosphere is heading our way in the form of a solar wind stream. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras when it arrives on or about May 3rd.

April Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY: Consider the following photos of space shuttle Discovery. The big image was taken at a range of just a few hundred meters by astronauts onboard the International Space Station. The smaller, inset image, which shows nearly as many details, was taken at a range of a few hundred thousand meters by French astrophotographer Theirry Legault of France. It is the finest ground-based photo of a space shuttle to date.

"I photographed Discovery on April 20th when it passed over France just a few hours before landing in Florida," says Legault. "Numerous details are recognizable: the elevons, the robotic arm--even the NASA logo!"

Legault, who is legendary among astrophotographers for his extraordinary shots of spacecraft and other thinggs, took the picture through a 10" Meade ACF telescope on a modified Takahashi EM-400 mount. The trick, he says, was using a green laser to pinpoint the spacecraft and a custom-made double joystick to track the shuttle as it glided across the sky. Click here for the full story.

 
       
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 April 27, 2010 there were 1116 potentially hazardous asteroids.
April 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 GV23
April 5
2.1 LD
19
12 m
2010 GF7
April 8
2.8 LD
18
30 m
2010 GA6
April 9
1.1 LD
16
27 m
2010 GM23
April 13
3.4 LD
17
47 m
2005 YU55
April 19
5.9 LD
15
185 m
2009 UY19
April 23
8.8 LD
18
87 m
2002 JR100
April 29
8.0 LD
19
65 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
   
  more links...
   
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