| | 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: 6.1 nT Bz: -1.1 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2354 UT Coronal Holes: 24 Feb 18 Solar wind flowing from this equator-straddling coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb 26th. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Our connection with NASA's AIM spacecraft has been restored! New images from AIM show that the southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is underway. Come back to this spot every day to see AIM's "daily daisy," which reveals the dance of electric-blue NLCs around the Antarctic Circle.. Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated at: 02-07-2018 17:55:05 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2018 Feb 24 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 Feb 24 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 30 % | 35 % | MINOR | 15 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 05 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 10 % | MINOR | 25 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 50 % | 65 % | | | | | | | | | | | | All-inclusive Northern Lights trips in Tromsø, Norway. Small groups, big experiences! Highly qualified guides ensure unique and unforgettable adventures with a personal touch. Visit Explore the Arctic | | | GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: NOAA forecasters say there is a 65% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Feb. 26th when a high-speed stream of solar wind reaches Earth. The gaseous material is flowing from a canyon-like hole in the sun's atmosphere now bisecting the solar disk. Arctic sky watchers may expect bright auroras when the solar wind arrives. Free: Aurora Alerts SPOTLESS SUN SPARKS PINK AURORAS: On Feb. 23rd the sun was completely blank (no sunspots) and NOAA classified solar activity as "very low." Nevertheless, this happened: "Despite the blank sun, we witnessed a beautiful display of auroras," reports photographer Andrei Andritcu from Tromso, Norway. In addition to the usual green, the lights contained a vivid splash of pink. In auroras, pink is a sign of nitrogen. Ordinary green auroras are caused by energetic particles from space hitting oxygen atoms 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Pink appears when the energetic particles descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below. Recent displays of pink and white auroras have coincided with spotless suns often enough to make observers wonder if there is a connection. E.g. perhaps solar wind emerging from the spotless sun is unusually penetrating. If so, we can expect to see more nitrogenous auroras in the years ahead. The sun is descending into a deep Solar Minimum, and the nadir (expected in 2019-2020) could be colored pink. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery RARE HAWAIIAN LIGHT PILLAR: Frankie Lucena of Puerto Rico frequently scans the automated Gemini webcam on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano, looking for sprites and other forms of exotic lightning. On Feb. 13th he saw something--but it wasn't lightning. "It was a rare Hawaiian light pillar," he says. Here is one frame from the complete video: "I was searching for thunderstorms and just happened to come across this rarely seen event in this part of the world," says Lucena. "Light pillars usually occur in cold climates like Canada so to see them this far south is unusual." Light pillars appear when urban lights reflect from the flat faces of ice crystals fluttering down from high freezing clouds. The source of the crystals, in this case, was probably a bank of altostratus/cumulus clouds shown in the video. "I do not recall seeing examples of these pillars so far south or in a location like Hawaii," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "So these are very rare indeed." Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery CROWD-FUNDING SPACE WEATHER RESEARCH: Did you know that cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere are intensifying? It's true, and we are monitoring the phenomenon with regular space weather balloon flights to the stratosphere. This student science program is not supported by any government grant or corporate sponsorship. Instead, we raise our research funds by selling these: On Dec. 31, 2017, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of these heart-shaped pendants to the stratosphere, 35.1 km (115,158 feet) above Earth's surface. They make great birthday and Mother's Day gifts. You can have one for $119.95. Each glittering pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales of this pendant support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All proceeds support hands-on STEM education 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 Feb. 24, 2018, the network reported 11 fireballs. (11 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] 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 February 24, 2018 there were 1882 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2018 CP2 | 2018-Feb-19 | 6.1 LD | 11.3 | 51 | 2018 CJ | 2018-Feb-20 | 9.3 LD | 15.3 | 67 | 2018 DB | 2018-Feb-20 | 2.3 LD | 16.2 | 11 | 2018 DQ | 2018-Feb-21 | 0.3 LD | 21 | 5 | 2018 CU13 | 2018-Feb-21 | 11.8 LD | 10.7 | 21 | 2016 CO246 | 2018-Feb-22 | 15.3 LD | 5.4 | 21 | 2017 DR109 | 2018-Feb-24 | 3.7 LD | 7.4 | 11 | 2018 CE14 | 2018-Feb-24 | 5.2 LD | 10.2 | 27 | 2018 DR | 2018-Feb-25 | 2.3 LD | 7 | 13 | 2016 FU12 | 2018-Feb-26 | 13.2 LD | 4.5 | 15 | 2018 DA | 2018-Feb-26 | 11 LD | 12.9 | 53 | 2014 EY24 | 2018-Feb-27 | 14.8 LD | 8 | 54 | 2018 DT | 2018-Feb-27 | 4.2 LD | 2.6 | 13 | 2018 CU14 | 2018-Feb-27 | 5.5 LD | 4.4 | 10 | 2015 BF511 | 2018-Feb-28 | 11.7 LD | 5.7 | 39 | 2018 DC | 2018-Mar-03 | 9.3 LD | 8.2 | 40 | 2003 EM1 | 2018-Mar-07 | 16.6 LD | 8 | 45 | 2017 VR12 | 2018-Mar-07 | 3.8 LD | 6.3 | 282 | 2018 BK7 | 2018-Mar-09 | 10.2 LD | 8.7 | 73 | 2015 DK200 | 2018-Mar-10 | 6.9 LD | 8 | 27 | 2016 SR2 | 2018-Mar-28 | 18.7 LD | 7.3 | 20 | 2010 GD35 | 2018-Mar-31 | 15.5 LD | 11.6 | 45 | 2004 FG29 | 2018-Apr-02 | 4 LD | 14.9 | 22 | 363599 | 2018-Apr-12 | 19.3 LD | 24.5 | 224 | 2014 UR | 2018-Apr-14 | 9.3 LD | 4.4 | 17 | 2016 JP | 2018-Apr-20 | 12 LD | 12.7 | 204 | 2012 XL16 | 2018-Apr-23 | 15.8 LD | 6.1 | 28 | 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | | Reviews here can help you to pick up best memory foam mattresses. | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | | | | | ©2017 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |