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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 350.2 km/s
density:
3.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B1 1815 UT Apr28
24-hr: C2 0235 UT Apr28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 28 Apr '05

Sunspot 756 is growing and poses a threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 45
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 27 Apr 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.0 nT
Bz:
1.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on May 1st. Image credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2005 Apr 27 2206 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 30 % 30 %
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 2005 Apr 27 2206 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 20 %
MINOR 01 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 20 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 28 Apr 2005
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AURORA WATCH: A coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) that was expected to hit Earth's magnetic field today hasn't. That probably means it missed, and that the chances for auroras tonight are low.

BIG SUNSPOT: Sunspot 756, which appeared only two days ago, is expanding rapidly. It's now about five times wider than our entire planet Earth and poses a threat for M-class solar flares.


A 2-day SOHO animation of sunspot 756.

The 'spot is a fine sight through properly-filtered telescopes. (If you don't have one of those, try building a simple solar projector: it's easy.) Using an H-alpha filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen, Gary Palmer of Los Angeles, CA, snapped this picture of sunspot 756, seething, on April 26th:

more images: from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine; from Odd Høydalsvik of Bergen, Norway.

RAINBOWS IN THE NIGHT: You've seen rainbows. They appear after rain storms when sunlight bounces in and out of misty water droplets. The droplets act like prisms, dividing bright white sunbeams into colorful arcs. But have you ever seen a rainbow after dark? Photographer J. Paul Longchamp did last weekend in Tahiti:

Rainbows require a source of light and some water droplets. In this case, the light came from the full Moon, with moist island air providing the prismatic droplets. The moon is almost full tonight. If it's humid where you live, watch out for rainbows in the night.

BONUS: April 24th Lunar Eclipse Gallery



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 28 Apr 2005 there were 681 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

April 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2005 EU2

Apr. 5

6.2 LD

 18
2005 EE169

Apr. 6

5.9 LD

 18
Notes: LD is a "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 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. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; Jan-Mar., 2004;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email

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