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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 342.2 km/sec
density: 2.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B9
1856 UT Mar28
24-hr: C1
1139 UT Mar28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 28 Mar 11
Sunspots 1176 and 1183 have beta-gamma magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 132
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 Mar 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 27 Mar 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 117 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 27 Mar 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= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.0 nT
Bz: 2.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 28 Mar 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Mar 28 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
35 %
50 %
CLASS X
01 %
05 %
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 Mar 28 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
20 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
25 %
MINOR
01 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Monday, Mar. 28, 2011
What's up in space
 

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Satellite flybys

SOLAR RADIO STORM: Did you know sunspots can make noise? Consider the following: "Over the past few days, I have been recording a sustained solar radio storm at 180 MHz," reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft of New Mexico. "It consists of Type I radio bursts and sounds like ocean surf. Here is an audio sample from March 27th at 1930 UT. The sun seems to be entering a new phase of dynamism."

Radio emissions like these are caused by plasma instabilities in the sun's atmosphere above sunspots. With the sun becoming 'radio-active,' it's no coincidence that sunspots are emerging in abundance. Leading the way is behemoth active region AR1176, shown here in a photo taken yesterday by Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas:

AR1176, the multi-cored ensemble at the bottom of the image, is dragging a pair of long magnetic filaments behind as it cuts aross the solar disk. Two more sunspots are visible in the active region's wake. The entire starscape spans more than 500,000 km from top to bottom--truly impressive. "I call this picture Solar Rip," says Alvarez, "because it looks like a rip in the stellar surface."

With so much happening on the sun, now is a good time to consider purchasing a solar telescope. Space Weather Store offers an out of the box system that requires minimal setup or previous experience.

more images: from JP Brahic of Uzes, France; from Jim Fakatselis of Huntington, NY; from Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from Rogerio Marcon of Campinas SP Brasil; from N. Pommeville and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Dave Gradwell of Birr Ireland; from Raymond Lalonde of Cornwall, Ont. Canada;

A RAINBOW AT NIGHT: Recipe for a rainbow: Add bright sunlight to raindrops and voila!--a beautiful band of multi-colors arcs across the sky. With such an ingredient list, you might suppose that rainbows can only be seen during the day, yet on March 24th Ethan Tweedie of Kamuela, Hawaii, recorded this spectacular example long after dark:

"It was a moonbow," explains Tweedie. The bright moon played the role of sun, illuminating nightime raindrops falling through the damp Hawaiian air. "I've been trying to photograph a moonbow for a long time. Last night I was driving back from the Volcano there it was!"

Tweedie's long exposure revealed something even more rare: a secondary moonbow. It's the faint 'bow arciing above the brighter primary. Primary rainbows are caused by single reflections inside raindrops; secondary bows are caused by double reflections. It was a night to remember, indeed.


March 2011 Aurora Photo Gallery
[previous Marches: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]

  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 March 28, 2011 there were 1215 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 FQ6
Mar 23
1.5 LD
--
12 m
2002 DB4
Apr 15
62.5 LD
--
2.2 km
2008 UC202
Apr 27
8.9 LD
--
10 m
2009 UK20
May 2
8.6 LD
--
23 m
2008 FU6
May 5
75.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2003 YT1
May 5
65.3 LD
--
2.5 km
2002 JC
Jun 1
57.5 LD
--
1.6 km
2009 BD
Jun 2
0.9 LD
--
9 m
2002 JB9
Jun 11
71.5 LD
--
3.2 km
2001 VH75
Jun 12
42.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2004 LO2
Jun 15
9.9 LD
--
48 m
2001 QP181
Jul 2
35.1 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 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
Conquest Graphics
  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
Science Central
   
  more links...
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