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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: 352.4 km/sec
density: 23.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
1715 UT Jun28
24-hr: B3
1715 UT Jun28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 28 June 07
Sunspot 961 is crackling with B-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 15
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 June 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Jun 28 2114 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.1 nT
Bz: 2.8 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated:Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on June 29th or 30th. Credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Jun 28 2154 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
15 %
15 %
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 Jun 28 2154 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
25 %
MINOR
05 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
35 %
MINOR
15 %
20 %
SEVERE
01 %
05 %
What's up in Space
June 28, 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.

PLANETS ALIGN: Venus and Saturn are converging for a close encounter on June 30th when the pair will be only 2/3o apart. You can watch the distance shrink in the nights ahead. Step outside after sundown and look west. Venus is the brightest object in the sky; Saturn is the yellow dot right beside it. Sky maps: June 27, 28, 29, 30, July 1.

SOLAR FIREWORKS: Suddenly, sunspot 961 is crackling with solar flares. They are minor B-class explosions, amounting to no more than a few million hydrogen bombs, but still exciting to watch through solar telescopes. Cameron LaCroix and John Stetson send this picture from South Portland, Maine:

In California yesterday, Gary Palmer photographed a similar blast. "There were a lot of fireworks going off around the sun's eastern limb--and it's not even the 4th of July," says Palmer, who stitched together several images to create a high-resolution 3.6 MB movie of the action.

more images: from Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Denis Fell of Wetaskiwin, Alberta;

MARTIAN DUST STORM: Amateur astronomers are monitoring a growing dust storm on Mars. "A huge storm is brewing," says veteran Mars photographer Jim Melka of Chesterfield, Missouri. He took this picture on June 25th using a 12-inch telescope and digital camera:

"Images taken on the mornings of June 25 and June 27 show the rapid growth of dust bands and clouds in just two days," he says.

The instigator of the storm may be the planet's south polar cap, shown prominently at the top of Melka's image. Temperature differences between the cold polar cap and adjacent, warmer, frost-free surfaces cause cold air to come streaming off the ice, picking up dust as soon as it hits frost-free terrain: more.

Amateur astronomers who wish to monitor developments must wake up before dawn and point their telescopes east, where Mars shines like a red star of 1st-magnitude: sky map. The bright polar cap and some dark markings can be seen directly in the eyepiece--no camera required. This could change, however, if the dust spreads and hides the surface. "Observers like me hope this doesn't become a global storm," says Melka.

more images: from David M. Moore of Phoenix, Arizona.

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 June 28, 2007 there were 872 potentially hazardous asteroids.
June-July 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2005 AD13
June 18
33 LD
16
1.2 km
2007 FV42
July 2
53 LD
15
1.2 km
2007 DT103
July 29
9.3 LD
15
550 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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