Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio. | | | CHANCE OF STORMS TODAY: NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb. 2nd in response to a glancing blow from a CME. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Super Bowl Sunday. Aurora alerts: text, voice BIG SUNSPOTS FACE EARTH: A pair of large sunspots is directly facing Earth. The larger of the two, AR1967, has a 'delta-class' magnetic field that harbors energy for powerful solar flares. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the behemoth during the early hours of Feb. 2nd: AR1967 is wider than the planet Jupiter and its primary dark cores are big enough to swallow Earth many times over. The scale of the sunspot makes it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. As shown in the gallery, astronomers around the world are snapping pictures. The active region is already crackling with M-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of even stronger X-flares during the next 24 hours. Any eruptions will be squarely Earth directed. Solar flare alerts: text, voice Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery NORTHERN LIGHTS: Last night on Andøya island, Norway, photographer Frank Olsen says he "had a feeling the CME from AR1967 would arrive early," so he went outside to photograph the impact. He was wrong about the CME arriving--it wouldn't come until the next day, at least--but he witnessed a great display anyway: "Conditions were beautiful, but cold," says Olsen. "I was out for nearly 8 hours taking pictures at different locations on Andøya island." He might be out again tonight if the now-tardy CME arrives. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of geomagnetic storms in response to an expected glancing blow from the approaching cloud. Aurora alerts: text, voice Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Realtime Supernova Photo Gallery Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Feb. 1, 2014, the network reported 9 fireballs. (9 sporadics)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] On Jan. 31, 2014, the network reported 5 fireballs. (5 sporadics)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 February 2, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids. 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | |