You are viewing the page for Jan. 20, 2005
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
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: 285.5 km/s
density: 0.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2238 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C4 1650 UT Jan20
24-hr: X7 0700 UT Jan20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 20 Jan '05

Giant sunspot 720 poses a continued threat for X-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 66
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 19 Jan 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals one sunspot group on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.9 nT
Bz: 0.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Coronal Holes:

This image is speckled by solar protons accelerated to light-speed by the Jan. 17th X3-class solar flare. A solar wind gust from the indicated coronal hole might hit Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 23rd. Image 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 2005 Jan 20 2200 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 90 % 90 %
CLASS X 30 % 30 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2005 Jan 20 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 35 % 35 %
MINOR 20 % 20 %
SEVERE 15 % 15 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 35 % 35 %
MINOR 20 % 20 %
SEVERE 15 % 15 %

What's Up in Space -- 20 Jan 2005
Subscribe to Space Weather News

Would you like a call when auroras appear in your area? Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

BIG BANG: Giant sunspot 720 erupted again today (Jan. 20th at 0700 GMT), unleashing a powerful X7-class solar flare. The blast hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and sparked the strongest radiation storm since October 1989.

In this SOHO coronagraph image of today's event, the many speckles are caused by solar protons peppering the spacecraft's digital camera. These protons were accelerated to near-light speed by the X7-explosion. This is what we mean by "radiation storm."

Note: ISS astronauts are in no danger from the storm because they orbit Earth inside our planet's protective magnetic field. Plus, the station itself is well shielded.

AURORA ALERT: A fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) hurled into space by this morning's solar blast might sweep past Earth during the next 24 hours. Sky watchers, remain alert for auroras. [gallery]

Would you believe ... auroras in Arizona? During a brief but strong geomagnetic storm on Jan. 18th, Chris Schur took this picture of a red glow over Payson, Arizona:

"This is an exellent case of a mostly photographic aurora--a deep reddish glow visible to the camera but not to the unaided eye," says Schur. "It started in the northern sky after midnight, and as the Kp index grew to 7 by early morning, the glow increased in size to more than 35 degrees over the northern horizon."

BIG SUNSPOT: Sunspot 720 is huge--about as wide as the planet Jupiter. On Wednesday, Jan. 19th, Don Brown took this picture of the sun rising over Park City, Utah. The giant 'spot is clearly visible:

This active region has unleashed four X-class solar flares, sparking bright auroras over Canada and Alaska. The latest flare, an X7-class blast on Jan. 20th, might energize a new geomagnetic storm on Jan. 21st.

NEWS FROM TITAN: Since the ESA Huygens probe landed on Titan last Friday, researchers have been working furiously to understand the data it transmitted to Earth. They'll discuss their findings at a press conference on Friday, Jan. 21st.



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 20 Jan 2005 there were 662 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Jan.-Feb. 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
1998 DV9

Jan. 11

30 LD

 15
2004 EW

Feb. 14

23 LD

 16
2004 RF84

Feb. 27

23 LD

 14
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. See also Snow Crystals.

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 --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

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

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

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

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; Jan-Mar., 2004;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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

You are visitor number 33009231 since January 2000.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.