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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: 528.3 km/sec
density: 5.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2244 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1955 UT Sep27
24-hr: A0
1955 UT Sep27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 27 Sep 07
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 Sep 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals a hint of a sunspot on the far side of the sun. Maybe the sun is not so blank after all. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 5 mild
24-hr max: Kp= 6
moderate
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Sep 27 2139 UT
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz: 0.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Sept. 27th or 28th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Sep 27 2203 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: 2007 Sep 27 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
40 %
MINOR
15 %
25 %
SEVERE
05 %
10 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
45 %
45 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
10 %
15 %

What's up in Space
September 27, 2007
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. .

DAWN LIFTS OFF: NASA's Dawn spacecraft lifted off from Kennedy Space Center this morning on a mission to explore giant asteroids Ceres and Vesta. The spacecraft has signaled NASA's Deep Space Network--a good sign!--and ground controllers are assessing Dawn's condition now: updates.

HARVEST MOON: When the Harvest Moon rose over Falmouth, Maine, last night, onlookers were amazed. "It was intensely orange, like a great big pumpkin," says John Stetson who helped local students C. LaCroix and C. Miller snap this picture:

What caused the color? Rayleigh scattering: Tiny bits of dust, ash, pollutants and even air molecules themselves scatter blue light while leaving red mostly untouched. The silvery moon thus loses its blue and gains a golden hue. (Sunsets are golden for the same reason.) Low-hanging moons tend to be extra-colorful because "low" is where most of the scatterers are.

more images: from Bernie Makepeace of Comox Valley, British Columbia; from Sheri Barrington of Weymouth, Dorset, UK; from Yuichi Takasaka of Lumby, British Columbia; from Jayme Hanzak of Hillsborough, North Carolina; from Jeffrey Berkes of West Chester, Pennsylvania; from Joshua Mendez of Boston, Mass.; from P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden; from Tunç Tezel of Bolu, Turkey;

WINDOW SEAT: Sylvain Chapeland was flying from Los Angeles to London on Sept. 24th when "a great show erupted over Greenland. The auroras were really nice even through the airplane window." (continued below)


Photo details: Canon EOS 350D, ISO 1600, 10s. More: #1, #2, #3

The display was fueled by a high-speed solar wind stream that hit Earth on Sept. 21st, sparking polar auroras for three nghts in a row--including the night of Chapeland's flight. Get ready for more: Another stream is en route from the sun, due to arrive on Sept. 27th or 28th.

Incidentally, Chapland may have pioneered a new method of aurora watching: Book a transcontinental polar night flight when geomagnetic storms are in the offing. Just don't forget the window seat!

September 2007 Aurora Gallery
[August 2007 Aurora Gallery] [Aurora Alerts]

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 September 27, 2007 there were 887 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2007 RF1
Sep. 2
8.5 LD
18
26 m
2007 RS1
Sep. 5
0.2 LD
17
3 m
2007 RJ1
Sep. 16
2.5 LD
16
40 m
2007 RC20
Sep. 20
5.1 LD
19
22 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 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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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