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Solar wind
speed: 293.2 km/sec
density: 5.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2000 UT Apr13
24-hr: C4
0826 UT Apr13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 13 Apr 15
Growing sunspot AR2321 has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 64
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 Apr 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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 13 Apr 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 134 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 13 Apr 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 1.9 nT
Bz: 1.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 13 Apr 15

Solar wind flowing from this southern coronal hole could reach Earth as early as April 15-16. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for NLCs has come to an end. The last clouds were observed by NASA's AIM spacecraft on Feb. 20, 2015. Now attention shifts to the northern hemisphere, where the first clouds of 2015 should appear in mid-May.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-28-2015 02:55:03
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Apr 12 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
55 %
55 %
CLASS X
20 %
20 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2015 Apr 12 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
20 %
SEVERE
10 %
10 %
 
Monday, Apr. 13, 2015
What's up in space
 

Learn to photograph Northern Lights like a pro. Sign up for Peter Rosen's Aurora Photo Courses in Abisko National Park.

 
Lapland tours

SPACE WEATHER WORKSHOP: This week, the staff of Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus will be attending NOAA's annual Space Weather Workshop in Boulder, Colorado. On behalf of the group, Dr. Tony Phillips will deliver a talk entitled "Space Weather Ballooning" (April 14th), in which recent radiation measurements of interest to aviation and space tourism will be revealed and discussed. [agenda]

LARGE SUNSPOT TURNS TOWARD EARTH: A large sunspot group emerged over the weekend and it is turning toward Earth. Karzaman Ahmad of the Langkawi National Observatory in Malaysia photographed "AR2321" during the early hours of Monday, April 13th:

Sprawling more than 120,000 km from end to end, the sunspot group has several dark cores as large as Earth. These dimensions make AR2321 an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. If you have one, take a look.

Of greater interest is the region's potential for flares. AR2321 has an unstable "beta-gamma-delta" magnetic field that harbors energy for strong eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of M-class flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on April 13th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

VENUS AND THE SEVEN SISTERS: Venus is so bright, it is often mistaken for a landing airplane. The Pleiades, on the other hand, are faint and delicate, often overlooked. As dissimilar as they are, the Goddess of Love and the Seven Sisters look great together. Marek Nikodem sends this picture of the duo from Szubin, Poland:

"It was an amazing view just after sunset on April 12th," says Nikodem. "Admiring Venus and the Pleiades, I remembered the first launch of Space Shuttle Columbia on this very date 34 years ago."

The planet and the star cluster will remain together for just a few more nights. When the sun goes down, step outside and look west. Surrounded by twilight blue, Venus is visible immediately. As the sky fades to black, the Pleiades emerge beside her. It's a nice way to end the day.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet 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 Apr. 13, 2015, the network reported 1 fireballs.
(1 sporadic)

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 April 13, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 GZ5
Apr 9
6.5 LD
34 m
2015 GU
Apr 12
0.3 LD
9 m
2005 KA
Apr 12
13 LD
50 m
2015 GE1
Apr 13
3.4 LD
30 m
2015 GL
Apr 13
6 LD
36 m
2015 GB1
Apr 13
6 LD
20 m
2015 GK
Apr 13
2.8 LD
29 m
2015 GA1
Apr 16
2.5 LD
20 m
5381 Sekhmet
May 17
62.8 LD
2.1 km
2005 XL80
Jun 4
38.1 LD
1.0 km
2012 XB112
Jun 11
10.1 LD
2 m
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.
  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
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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