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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: 276.6 km/sec
density: 1.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT May27
24-hr: A0
0100 UT May27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 27 May 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 May 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 3 days
2009 total: 119 days (81%)
Since 2004: 630 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 26 May 2009

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= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.6 nT
Bz: 0.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on June 1st or 2nd. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 May 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: 2009 May 27 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
May 27, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

CAN PEOPLE GO TO MARS? A new study shows that an 18-month mission to Mars would expose astronauts to more space radiation than NASA shielding technology can handle. Shorter 6-month missions to Moon are "problematic," too. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

SPACE STATION FLARES: Lately, a growing number of observers are reporting intense "flares" coming from the International Space Station (ISS). A typical sighting begins with a normal, sedate flyby: The station soars overhead, cutting silently through the stars with no hint that something extraordinary is about to happen. Then, a startling explosion of light boosts the station's luminosity 10-fold or more. Some observers have witnessed flares of magnitude -8 or twenty-five times brighter than Venus.

On May 22nd, Dutch amateur astronomer Quintus Oostendorp watched a flare through his backyard telescope. A movie he recorded using his Canon 1000D shows what happened:


Click to view a 0.7 MB Quicktime movie

The bright flash is sunlight glinting off the station's enormous solar arrays. Earlier this year, on March 20th, astronauts unfurled a new pair of arrays on the space station's starboard side, adding 8000 sq. feet of light-catching surface area to the station's profile. The extra area increases both the chances and the luminosity of flares. "It is a spectacular sight!" says Oostendorp.

No one knows when they will happen or how bright they will be. That's what makes the hunt for "space station flares" so much fun. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times--and let the hunt begin!

more flares: from Maximilian Teodorescu of Dumitrana, Romania; from Rafael Schmall of Hungary, Somogy, Kaposfo; from Kevin Kell of Yarker, Ontario, Canada; from Martin Gembec of Litice nad Orlici, Czech Republic; from Nicolas Biver of Versailles, France;

DANDELION MOON: This week's crescent Moon was so beautiful, artist Sally J. Smith of Wadhams, New York, decided to put a frame around it. "I created a special sculpture for the Moon using reeds and dandelions," she says. "On Monday evening after the wind died down, I set it up and waited for the Moon to emerge from the twilight." When it did, she recorded the view using her Nikon D40:

"I did not realize the Moon would be so slender. It was gorgeous and I was so glad the sky opened up and that the wind dropped so I could frame this Moon with the delicate dandies!!"

Rewind one day: "The night before, I did a practice set up and allowed the setting sun to illuminate the sculpture," she adds. "The result was a picture I call Ring of Fire (click here). It reminds me of that phase in a solar eclipse just before totality."


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


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 May 27, 2009 there were 1060 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 JA
May 4
7.5 LD
18
37 m
2006 FG3
May 6
60.7 LD
17
1.1 km
2001 SG286
May 17
11.5 LD
16
280 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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