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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: 374.5 km/sec
density: 7.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Jul29
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Jul29
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 29 Jul 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 July 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 3.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 Jul 29 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 Jul 29 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 29, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of July 12th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

SOLAR CONJUNCTION: Mercury has phases and today it is full. Don't look, though, because the bright rocky planet is only 2o from the sun. It's a high-noon solar conjunction that only SOHO (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) can see. SOHO uses its onboard coronagraph to block the sun's glare and reveal the planet nearby. Now you can look.

SNOW WHITE VS. GRETEL: (3D glasses required) For weeks, NASA's Phoenix lander has labored to dig into the hard, icy soil of northern Mars. Mission scientists call this trench, located near Phoenix's feet, Snow White:


Trench dimensions: 5 cm (2") deep, 23 cm (9") wide, 60 cm (24") long.

Rumor has it, they're thinking of renaming it Gretel. Like Hansel's sister, the soil in this trench refuses to hop in the oven.

Phoenix's onboard laboratory oven has its doors open, waiting for a sample of martian soil to analyze. Back in June, soil dumped into the oven got stuck on a screen at the oven's door. The sample was too clumpy. So mission planners decided to rasp Snow White's frozen soil, creating a pile of fine shavings that could filter through the screen. Snow White was subsequently rasped, shavings made, a sample scooped up and, two days ago, dumped into the oven. Success? Not exactly. Most of the soil remained stuck in the scoop; the small amount that funneled into the oven was insufficient for analysis.

Mission planners are going back to the drawing board to figure out how to deal with the surprisingly stubborn soil. It's a Grimm situation.

BREAD MOON: Last week, photographer Patrick Bornet watched in amazement as the Moon rose above the waves of the Mediterranean off the south coast of France. The almanac predicted a quarter moon, but what was this phantasm he recorded with his Canon 350D?


Click to view the complete sequence

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley calls it "a bread Moon."

"The early part of this wonderful sequence reminds me of bread rising as it bakes in the oven," he explains. "Layers of air at different temperatures are responsible for this mirage. The Moon’s rays are deflected as they pass through them distorting it and even splitting it into at least three separate images. Notice within the lower temperature inversion layer that there is a moon image setting into the sea as the main one rises!"

Bread moons. Another reason to keep looking up.


2008 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
[Strange Clouds] [Sky Cameras]

       
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 July 29, 2008 , there were 964 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2003 YE45
July 13
16.5 LD
15
1.4 km
2008 BT18
July 14
5.9 LD
13
1.0 km
2003 LC5
July 15
62 LD
16
1.4 km
2008 NP3
July 17
6.8 LD
18
85 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...
 
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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