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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 301.7 km/sec
density: 1.9 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2350 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
2054 UT Jun12
24-hr: B1
2054 UT Jun12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 12 June 18
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 12 Jun 2018

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 7 days
2018 total: 87 days (53%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Updated 12 Jun 2018


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 70 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 11 Jun 2018

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 1.9 nT
Bz: -1.4 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2351 UT
Coronal Holes: 12 Jun 18

Solar wind flowing from this minor coronal hole could reach Earth on June 13. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds The season for northern noctilucent clouds is beginning now. Check here daily for the latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 06-12-2018 00:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2018 Jun 12 2200 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: 2018 Jun 12 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
25 %
20 %
SEVERE
25 %
10 %
 
Tuesday, Jun. 12, 2018
What's up in space
       
 

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QUIET WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF STORMS: Earth's magnetic field is quiet as our planet moves through a region of calm solar wind. Activity could increase on June 13th, however, when Earth enters a solar wind stream flowing from a small hole in the sun's atmosphere. NOAA forecasters say there is a 25% chance of minor geomagnetic storms. Free: Aurora Alerts.

SPRITES AND ANDROMEDA: Recent lightning storms over Europe have produced so many sprites, photographers have been able to frame them alongside other points of interest in the night sky. Last night, Petr Horálek of Proseč, Czech Republic, recorded a bunch of red sprites in the same exposure as the Andromeda galaxy:

"Our stormy weather has been perfect for capturing upper atmosphere lightning despite short solstice nights over the Czech Republic," says Horálek. "This bunch occurred over a large thunderstorm located about 300 km east of my observing site in Proseč, Czech Republic. As a bonus, a faint meteor fell in the view during the exposure, adding its green to the red of the sprites."

Sprites are a summertime phenomenon. The strange red forms are sparked by powerful electric fields in convective thunderstorms. Instead of lancing down like normal lightning, however, sprites reach up to the edge of space. The fact that they are occuring in such profusion before summer even begins suggests that 2018 could be an excellent year for sprites. Stay tuned for more sightings.

Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery

THE INTERSTELLAR BRIDGE: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. Venus is blazing through the twilight, brighter than anything in the sky except the sun and Moon. And it's not alone. As the twilight sky fades to black, the brightest stars of the constellation Gemini pop into view in almost perfect alignment with Venus:

.Piotr Majewski photographed the arrangement on June 11th from Toruń, Poland. "From left to right there were Venus, Pollux and Castor," says Majewski. "That is the real interstellar bridge ;) "

This alignment will break up in the nights ahead as Venus moves out of the constellation Gemini. Keep watching the sunset sky, though, because later this week the crescent Moon will join Venus for a new alignment. See it on June 15th and 16th.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

FATHER'S DAY SPECIAL: What do you get for the Dad who has everything? He probably doesn't have this: A 3D Moon globe laser-etched inside a crystal cube. And, oh yes, it has been to the edge of space:

The students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of these unique cubes to the stratosphere on June 3rd. You can have one for $149.95. They're selling them as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray ballooning program.

Each Moon-cube comes with a unique gift card showing the item floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again. Dad-satisfaction guaranteed.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

  All Sky Fireball Network
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 Jun. 12, 2018, the network reported 19 fireballs.
(19 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]

  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 June 12, 2018 there were 1912 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2018 LR2
2018-Jun-09
3.9 LD
9.9
26
2018 EJ4
2018-Jun-10
5.6 LD
6.2
195
2015 DP155
2018-Jun-11
9 LD
4.4
170
2018 LQ3
2018-Jun-11
12.2 LD
21
128
2018 LP3
2018-Jun-12
11.2 LD
9.2
27
2018 LD1
2018-Jun-14
1.6 LD
11
19
2018 LV3
2018-Jun-15
0.9 LD
11.1
18
2018 LK
2018-Jun-15
7.7 LD
12.4
159
2018 LF1
2018-Jun-16
15.6 LD
14
46
2018 KC3
2018-Jun-19
14.6 LD
8.8
87
2017 YE5
2018-Jun-21
15.6 LD
15.5
513
467309
2018-Jun-23
17.9 LD
14
355
441987
2018-Jun-24
7.3 LD
12.6
178
2018 LD3
2018-Jun-24
19.9 LD
14.2
67
2018 LN2
2018-Jun-28
10.5 LD
9.4
86
2018 LR3
2018-Jun-29
6.1 LD
3.8
20
2018 LJ1
2018-Jul-01
13.9 LD
2.7
17
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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:


Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

  Essential web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
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