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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: 453.2 km/s
density:
0.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2244 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B4 1930 UT Dec26
24-hr: B7 1240 UT Dec26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 26 Dec '04

Sunspot 713 does not pose a threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 26
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 25 Dec 2004

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.8 nT
Bz:
2.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is glidng through a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Image credit: NOAA's Solar X-ray Imager


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 2004 Dec 26 2200 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 2004 Dec 26 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 26 Dec 2004
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Did you miss last month's intense auroras? Next time get a phone call. Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

AURORA WATCH: A weak solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field and this could spark high-latitude auroras. The lights won't be easy to see, though, because of the glaring full moon--see below.

FULL MOON: Tonight's full moon is the smallest full moon of the year. What makes it small? Answer: The moon's lopsided orbit. One side of the moon's orbit ("apogee") is 50,000 km farther from Earth than the other side ("perigee"). Tonight's moon is at apogee.

To illustrate the difference, apogee vs. perigee, Anthony Ayiomamitis of Athens, Greece, took these two pictures when the moon was at opposite ends of its elliptical orbit. The apogee moon of Dec. 26th is clearly smaller.

MORNING PLANETS: Thank you, Santa. On Christmas morning and every morning after that for more than a week, you can step outside at dawn and see five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Above: "It was beautiful to see Venus and Mercury rise together above Pikes Peak on Christmas morning," says photographer Ginger Mayfield of Divide, Colorado.

They're all bright enough to see with the unaided eye--no telescope required. Look east for Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. Look west for Saturn. [sky maps: east, west]



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 26 Dec 2004 there were 654 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Nov.-Dec. 2004 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2004 TP1

Nov. 2

13 LD

 15
2004 UE

Nov. 9

10 LD

 15
2004 RZ164

Dec. 8

7 LD

 12
2004 VW14

Dec. 24

5 LD

 13
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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