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

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 372.9 km/s
density:
0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max:
A9 2005 UT Jan13
24-hr: B4 0625 UT Jan13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 13 Jan '07

Quiet sunspot 930 poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit:
SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 33
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 12 Jan 2007

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.1 nT
Bz:
0.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1624 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Jan. 16th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope


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 2007 Jan 13 2203 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 2007 Jan 13 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 10 % 15 %
MINOR 01 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

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

What's Up in Space -- 13 Jan 2007
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Did you sleep through the auroras of Dec. 14th? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

AURORA WATCH: Sky watchers from Scandinavia to Alaska should be alert for auroras on Jan. 16th. A solar wind stream will hit Earth and the impact could cause a high-latitude geomagnetic storm.

DAYTIME COMET: Comet McNaught is now visible in broad daylight. "It's fantastic," reports Wayne Winch of Bishop, California. "I put the sun behind a neighbor's house to block the glare and the comet popped right into view. You can even see the tail!"

Just hours ago, Mark Vornhusen took this picture of the comet between clouds over Gais, Switzerland:


Photo details: Nikon D70 camera, 500 mm lens.

This weekend is a special time for Comet McNaught because it is passing close to the sun. Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.

The secret to seeing McNaught: Get rid of the sun. You can do this by standing in the shadow of a tall building or billboard. Make a fist and hold it at arm's length. The comet is about one fist-width (5 degrees) east of the sun's position. Try it!

Warning: Binoculars dramatically improve the view of the comet, allowing you to see structure within the tail . But please be super-careful not to look at the sun. Direct sunlight through binoculars can cause permanent eye damage.

Comet McNaught Photo Gallery
[finder chart] [ephemeris] [realtime images from space]

SUNSET COMET MIRAGE: Last night on a beach near San Francisco, Mila Zinkova photographed something truly rare: a sunset comet mirage.

"I was lucky," she says. "Sky conditions were perfect and I had a crystal-clear view of the horizon. When I arrived at the beach I quickly noticed an inferior mirage of some islands in the distance, followed by an inferior mirage of the setting sun." Comet McNaught followed the sun, and it miraged, too:


Photo details: Canon XTI, 300 mm lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/20 sec exposure.

Inserts show how the mirage developed: the real comet descends from above while a phantom comet rises from the waves. Eventually, the two merge. "It looks like the comet was reflected in the water, but it is actually refraction produced by temperature gradients in the air just above the water."

"As I watched the comet," says Zinkova, "it was interesting to think that SOHO and I were watching the comet at the same time. These pictures are not spectacular, but I believe they are unique."



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 13 Jan 2007 there were 832 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Jan 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 UQ17

Jan. 2

11 LD

16

175 m
1991 VK

Jan. 21

26 LD

15

2.0 km
5011 Ptah

Jan. 21

77 LD

15

1.6 km
2006 CJ

Jan. 31

10 LD

~16

385 m
2006 AM4

Feb. 1

5.2 LD

16

180 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.

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 -- from the National Solar Data Analysis Center

X-ray images of the Sun: GOES-12 and GOES-13

Recent Solar Events -- a summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

What is the Magnetosphere?

The Lion Roars -- visit this site to find out what the magnetosphere sounds like.

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft.

How powerful are solar wind gusts? Not very! 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 1996 to 2006

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006; Apr-Jun 2006; Jul-Sep 2006; Oct-Dec 2006.

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


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