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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 463.0 km/sec
density: 0.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2233 UT Aug14
24-hr: C3
0031 UT Aug14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 14 Aug 12
Sunspots 1542 and 1543 have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 62
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 14 Aug 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update 14 Aug 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 108 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 14 Aug 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz: 1.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 14 Aug 12
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Aug. 18-19. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Aug 14 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
15 %
15 %
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: 2012 Aug 14 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
20 %
SEVERE
05 %
10 %
 
Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012
What's up in space
 

Thirty-five new items have just been added to our Meteorite Jewelry collection. Browse the Space Weather Store for something out of this world.

 
Meteorite jewelry

SLIGHT CHANCE OF FLARES: NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of M-class solar flares today. Sunspots AR1542 and AR1543 both have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for such eruptions. Solar Flare alerts: text, phone.

PERSEID RECAP: Earth is exiting the debris stream of Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. According to the International Meteor Organization, the shower peaked on August 12th with ~120 meteors per hour. NASA's network of all-sky meteor cameras photographed and measured the orbits of nearly 300 Perseid fireballs:

In the diagram, above, the location of Earth is denoted by a red splat. The orbit of parent comet Swift-Tuttle is traced in purple. The comet itself does not intersect Earth (good thing), but many of its meteoroids do hit our planet.

"The plot contains data from July 26th to the present," says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "There are 289 fireballs, 183 on peak night alone." To illustrate the intensity of the shower, Cooke offers a composite image of all the fireballs over the Marshall Space Flight Center on August 12th. "It was a great show."

For more snapshots from around the world, browse the Realtime Perseid Photo Gallery:

Realtime Perseid Photo Gallery
[NASA video: The 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower]

LUNAR OCCULTATION OF VENUS: Yesterday, in broad daylight, the crescent Moon passed directly in front of Venus. The occultation was visible from a broad corridor stretching from North America across the Pacific Ocean to east Asia. Alan Dyer recorded the event from Gleichen, Alberta:

"The blue-sky occultation of Venus on August 13th was a neat sight," says Dyer. "Here in Alberta, Canada, the occultation occurred at about 2:11 pm MDT. The composite image shows 6 images taken moments apart, recording Venus disappearing behind the advancing disk of the waning crescent Moon."

This rare daylight astronomy event was so hot in Henderson, Nevada, that photographer Jim Werle could barely touch his equipment. "It was 110 degrees outside," he explains. Nevertheless he managed to record several excellent images.

Realtime Occultation Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]

  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 August 14, 2012 there were 1325 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
37655 Illapa
Aug 12
37 LD
--
1.2 km
2000 ET70
Aug 21
58.5 LD
--
1.1 km
1998 TU3
Aug 25
49.2 LD
--
4.9 km
2009 AV
Aug 26
62.8 LD
--
1.1 km
1998 UO1
Oct 4
60.1 LD
--
2.1 km
2005 GQ21
Oct 12
77 LD
--
1.0 km
1998 ST49
Oct 18
28.7 LD
--
1.3 km
1991 VE
Oct 26
34 LD
--
1.1 km
2001 CV26
Oct 30
68 LD
--
2.4 km
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
Trade Show Displays
   
  more links...
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