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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 400.2 km/s
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B5 1905 UT Nov01
24-hr: B5 1905 UT Nov01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 01 Nov '06

Sunspot 921 has developed a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 34
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 31 Nov 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals one small sunspot on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.4 nT
Bz: 0.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.

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 2006 Nov 01 2203 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 2006 Nov 01 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 10 % 10 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 1 Nov 2006
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Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Exactly one week from today, Mercury will pass directly in front of the sun. The planet's jet-black disk will glide among sunspots, filaments and prominences--a beautiful sight worthy of art and photography. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

SOLAR ACTIVITY: Sunspot 921 is still growing. Only a speck two days ago, it is now as wide as the planet Jupiter and poses a threat for M-class solar flares.


A SOHO animation of sunspot 921. Oct 30- Nov 1, 2006

"I've not been able to look at the Sun for a few days so it came as a surprise today to see this lovely sunspot close to an equally beautiful prominience on the nearby limb," says Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK. He took this picture through his Personal Solar Telescope:

more images: from Robert Arnold on the Isle of Skye, Scotland; from Guillaume Bertrand of Saint Laurent sur Sèvre, Vendee, France; from John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland; from John Stetson of Falmouth, Maine.

CLOUD SHADOWS: The shadows in this picture are not coming from the fingers of photographer David Williams, but rather from clouds miles overhead:

"I walked outside this morning and noticed a faint halo around the sun," says Williams. "Then I saw a whole lot more--rays and shadows mixed in. It was a remarkable sight and a bit confusing, but definitely worth photographing!"

EXTRA: Look carefully at Dave's photo of the sun halo (click here) and answer this question: Which is higher, the ice crystals that made the halo or the thick clouds that made the shadows?



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 1 Nov 2006 there were 821 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Oct-Nov 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 UC185

Oct. 23

6.3 LD

17

95 m
2006 UZ215

Oct. 27

7.6 LD

19

35 m
2006 UJ185

Oct. 30

0.7 LD

17

10 m
2006 UA216

Oct. 31

6.0 LD

16

90 m
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.

Recommended: Earth & Sky

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.

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.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

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;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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


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