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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: 574.2 km/sec
density: 2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B4
2025 UT Jul30
24-hr: B8
0915 UT Jul30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 30 Jul 10
Sunspot 1089 is decaying and poses a declining threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Resolutions: 4096, 1024, 256

NOTE: In a new development, the Daily Sun now comes from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Click on the image to see the difference. Comments welcomed.
Sunspot number: 31
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 29 July 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 35 days (17%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 803 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 29 July 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 85 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 29 July 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.7 nT
Bz: 1.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1952 UT
Coronal Holes:
Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Jul 30 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
05 %
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: 2010 Jul 30 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
30 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
40 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 30, 2010

ANDROID FLYBYS: Our field-tested satellite tracker is now available for Android phones. Features: Global predictions and flyby alarms! Learn more.

 

CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. Venus, Saturn, and Mars have converged to form a skinny triangle in the sunset sky. Saturn and Mars are especially close together, only 2o apart for the next few nights. Sky maps: July 30, 31, August 1, 2.

triangle images: from Adrian New of San Antonio, Texas; from Carlos Caccia of Intendente Alvear, La Pampa, Argentina; from Vasilis Wooseas of Greece; from Mark Arzadon of San Jacinto, Pangasinan, Philippines; from Christopher Calubaquib of El Sobrante,California;

DEJA VU ERUPTIONS: On July 28th, magnetic fields on the sun's eastern limb became unstable and erupted, producing a towering prominence of surpassing beauty. On July 29th, it happened again. Click on the image to play a movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):


movie formats: 7.5 MB gif, 1.4 MB iPad, 0.6 MB iPhone

Neither eruption produced a bright flash of X-radiation. For that reason, solar activity on July 28th and 29th was officially classified by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center as "low" to "very low." It might be time to change the classification scheme. X-rays have long been used as a key measure of solar activity, but SDO is revealing many forms of activity that do not emit strong X-rays. The spectacular eruptions of the past two days are good examples.

Déjà vu movies: July 28, July 28 slow-motion, July 29.

SUMMER LIGHTS: A high speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and this is causing geomagnetic activity around the poles. Zoltan Kenwell of Edmonton, Alberta, witnessed this display on July 27th:

"It was a beautiful night on the Alberta prairies," says Kenwell. "Aurora activity was subtle, but definitely present. The full Thunder Moon was lighting up the canola fields and the arrival of a few noctilucent clouds just put the icing on the cake!"

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the solar wind continues to blow.

more images: from Vincent Calkins of St. Albert, AB Canada


Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South Pacific Eclipse] [animated map]

 
       
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 30, 2010 there were 1140 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 KZ117
Aug 4
72.6 LD
18
1.0 km
6239 Minos
Aug 10
38.3 LD
18
1.1 km
2005 NZ6
Aug 14
60.5 LD
18
1.3 km
2002 CY46
Sep 2
63.8 LD
16
2.4 km
2010 LY63
Sep 7
56.1 LD
18
1.2 km
2009 SH2
Sep 30
7.1 LD
25
45 m
1998 UO1
Oct 1
32.1 LD
17
2.1 km
2005 GE59
Oct 1
77 LD
18
1.1 km
2001 WN5
Oct 10
41.8 LD
18
1.0 km
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
17
1.8 km
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
15
5.3 km
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
17
2.0 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
40.6 LD
18
1.0 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
19
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
16
3.4 km
2005 QY151
Nov 16
77.7 LD
18
1.3 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 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 and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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