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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: 596.0 km/sec
density: 4.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A1
1915 UT Feb28
24-hr: A1
1915 UT Feb28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 28 Feb 08
Bipolar sunspot 983 is rapidly fading away. The sun sill soon be blank again. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 12
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 Feb 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated:
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.0 nT
Bz: 1.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from this coronal hole could reach Earth on Feb. 28th or 29th. Credit: Hinode X-Ray Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Feb 28 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: 2008 Feb 28 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
20 %
MINOR
15 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %

What's up in Space
February 28, 2008
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.   mySKY

DON'T FORGET COMET HOLMES: Since its startling explosion in Oct. 2007, Comet 17P/Holmes has slowly faded from view--out of sight and out of the headlines. But the giant comet is still putting on a show. Consider this Feb. 24th photo taken by Michael Jäger of Stixendorf, Austria. The great red cloud next to Comet Holmes is the California Nebula. "What a great photo-op," says Jack Newton who caught the pair three nights later. Comet Holmes is easy to find in the constellation Perseus almost directly overhead after sunset. If you have a backyard telescope, take a look. [sky map] [ephemeris] [gallery]

AURORA WATCH: The auroras are dancing over Scandinavia. Hanneke Luijting of Tromso, Norway, sends this report: "Last night, we had to drive slowly behind a family of moose (who preferred to jog right in the middle of the road instead of going left or right) to get these images. It was an incredible show!" Here is the view recorded by his Canon 350D:

The source of the display is a solar wind stream, which has just arrived to buffet Earth's magnetic field. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of more geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. People in Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska should remain alert for moose--and auroras.

February 2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night Sky Cameras]

LUNAR ANTARCTIC: New high-resolution radar maps of the Moon's south pole reveal a fantastic land with peaks as high as Mt. McKinley and crater floors four times deeper than the Grand Canyon. NASA scientists, who scanned the region in 2006 using the Goldstone Solar System Radar, spent almost two years analyzing the echoes and released the data just yesterday. Click on the image to view a movie of the craggy landscape with shadows twirling over the course of a complete lunar day:


Click to view a movie of the lunar south pole

NASA is eying the Moon's south polar region as a possible site for future outposts. The location has many advantages. For one thing, there is evidence of water frozen in deep dark south polar craters. Water can be split into oxygen to breath and hydrogen to burn as rocket fuel--or astronauts could simply drink it. Planners are also looking for "peaks of eternal light." Tall polar mountains where the sun never sets would be a good place for a solar power station. Watch the movie again. Do you see any eternal peaks?

"These data will be an invaluable tool for advance planning of lunar missions," says Doug Cooke, deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "The south pole of the Moon [is going to be] a beautiful place to explore." [more]


Lunar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[Interactive World Map of Eclipse Photos]

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. [comment]
On February 28, 2008 there were 931 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Feb. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 CT1
Feb. 5
0.3 LD
15
13 m
2007 DA
Feb. 12
9.8 LD
18
140 m
2008 CK70
Feb. 15
1.0 LD
16
40 m
4450 Pan
Feb. 19
15.9 LD
13
1.6 km
2002 TD66
Feb. 26
16.7 LD
15
440 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 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...
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