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SOLAR WIND STREAM APPROACHES EARTH: A stream of solar wind is approaching Earth. Estimated time of arrival: March 5th. The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere, and it could spark minor geomagnetic storms and Arctic auroras when it arrives. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
THE MYSTERY OF ORANGE AURORAS: A recent display of auroras over Canada has experts scratching their heads. The mystery? They were orange. Pilot Matt Melnyk was flying 36,000 feet over Canada on Feb. 23rd when he saw the strangely-colored lights from the cockpit window:
"I have been chasing and photographing auroras for more than 13 years (often from airplanes) and this is the first time I have ever seen orange," says Melnyk.
What's so strange about orange? Joe Minow of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center explains: "Theoretically, nitrogen and oxygen (N2, N2+, and O2+) can produce emissions at orange wavelengths, but these are typically weak compared to stronger emissions from the same molecules at the red end of the spectrum. It is hard to understand how orange could dominate in an auroral display."
Even so, Melnyk says "these appeared to be real auroras." The orange fringe danced in sync with regular red and green auroras overhead. It did not appear to be an artifact of city lights or distant twilight. Moreover, Melnyk saw the orange color with his naked eye, and his camera recorded it, too.
Above: The red pushpin marks the approximate location of the plane on Feb. 23rd (22:48 EST) when the orange auroras appeared. Inset is the camera's view.
Kjellmar Oksavik, a space physicist at the University Center in Svalbard (UNIS), has an idea: "Normally, auroras are produced by electrons with energies less than 10 keV. Raining down from space, they stop an an altitude of 100 km where the dominant color is green (caused by electrons hitting oxygen). During strong activity, however, electrons can reach energies of 20 keV and even higher. These electrons penetrate deeper, all the way down to 80-100 km. Here nitrogen molecules dominate, with multiple emission lines in blue, purple, orange, red and magenta."
"I think this is what is happening in the picture," says Oksavik. "On this particular day the precipitating electrons were so energized that they reached deeper into the atmosphere (probably 80-90 km) where nitrogen molecules emitted a wide range of colors, that combines into what looks like an orange glow."
Oksavik's colleague Fred Sigernes, chief of the UNIS Aurora Observatory, agrees with Oksavik, but also wonders "why have we never observed this up here with our cameras in Svalbard?" It's a mystery, indeed.
Have you observed orange auroras? Submit your photos here.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
STERLING SILVER RAINBOW DRAGONFLY: Are you looking for a far out gift? Consider the Rainbow Dragonfly. On Jan 28th, this sterling silver pendant hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $172.95. The dragonfly's heart is a Celtic love knot, and its wings are decorated with a spray of rainbow-colored crystals. This item is 100% 925 sterling silver, lead-free, nickel-free, cadmium-free, and totally hypoallergenic.
The students are selling dragonfly pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 Mar 04, 2022, the network reported 7 fireballs.
(7 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 March 4, 2022 there were 2271 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2022 DO3 | 2022-Feb-27 | 0.3 LD | 15 | 15 |
2022 DA2 | 2022-Feb-27 | 2.7 LD | 26.4 | 19 |
2022 EK | 2022-Feb-27 | 18.6 LD | 6.8 | 17 |
2022 DX1 | 2022-Feb-27 | 4.7 LD | 7.6 | 10 |
2022 DL | 2022-Feb-27 | 18.8 LD | 12.4 | 44 |
2022 ED2 | 2022-Feb-27 | 2.9 LD | 13.6 | 17 |
2022 DH3 | 2022-Feb-27 | 10.4 LD | 12.4 | 34 |
2022 EL1 | 2022-Feb-27 | 2.2 LD | 19.3 | 13 |
2022 DQ2 | 2022-Feb-28 | 1.2 LD | 20.3 | 33 |
2022 DT4 | 2022-Feb-28 | 3.5 LD | 7.1 | 20 |
2022 DK2 | 2022-Feb-28 | 3.1 LD | 16.6 | 12 |
2020 UO4 | 2022-Feb-28 | 18.5 LD | 2.1 | 7 |
2022 EB | 2022-Feb-28 | 2 LD | 11.5 | 16 |
2022 EU1 | 2022-Feb-28 | 17.7 LD | 8.9 | 20 |
2022 ER | 2022-Mar-01 | 4.8 LD | 6.4 | 9 |
2022 DQ1 | 2022-Mar-01 | 7.5 LD | 8.5 | 14 |
2022 DC4 | 2022-Mar-01 | 1 LD | 14.1 | 14 |
2022 DY2 | 2022-Mar-01 | 1.1 LD | 15.5 | 7 |
2022 DA3 | 2022-Mar-01 | 3.5 LD | 10.4 | 10 |
2022 DE3 | 2022-Mar-02 | 2 LD | 6.9 | 9 |
2022 DM4 | 2022-Mar-02 | 0.7 LD | 9.1 | 5 |
2022 EG | 2022-Mar-02 | 4.4 LD | 7.5 | 32 |
2022 EZ | 2022-Mar-02 | 1.8 LD | 8.9 | 5 |
2022 EE | 2022-Mar-02 | 10.2 LD | 8.3 | 28 |
2022 ET | 2022-Mar-02 | 0.7 LD | 7.3 | 3 |
2022 EJ | 2022-Mar-02 | 16.6 LD | 17 | 52 |
2022 DM1 | 2022-Mar-02 | 17.9 LD | 6.7 | 17 |
2022 DN1 | 2022-Mar-03 | 11.4 LD | 10 | 19 |
2022 EQ | 2022-Mar-03 | 0.4 LD | 11.5 | 4 |
2022 EA2 | 2022-Mar-03 | 11.4 LD | 4.4 | 33 |
2022 DK1 | 2022-Mar-03 | 9.7 LD | 6.4 | 22 |
2022 DC1 | 2022-Mar-03 | 13.4 LD | 8.3 | 17 |
2022 EF1 | 2022-Mar-04 | 0.7 LD | 10.7 | 5 |
138971 | 2022-Mar-04 | 12.8 LD | 12 | 742 |
2022 EH1 | 2022-Mar-04 | 1.6 LD | 14.7 | 7 |
2021 UL7 | 2022-Mar-04 | 11.5 LD | 2 | 25 |
2022 DR4 | 2022-Mar-04 | 17.5 LD | 11.2 | 29 |
2022 EO | 2022-Mar-05 | 1 LD | 8.5 | 5 |
2022 DO4 | 2022-Mar-05 | 3.5 LD | 11.1 | 18 |
2022 EA | 2022-Mar-05 | 3.4 LD | 15.7 | 18 |
2022 EG1 | 2022-Mar-05 | 6.7 LD | 19.9 | 20 |
2022 DT3 | 2022-Mar-06 | 9.8 LD | 19.5 | 23 |
2022 DO1 | 2022-Mar-06 | 6.6 LD | 13.9 | 15 |
2020 DC | 2022-Mar-06 | 3.9 LD | 4.9 | 16 |
2022 EZ1 | 2022-Mar-06 | 19.1 LD | 5.4 | 16 |
2022 EM | 2022-Mar-06 | 18.6 LD | 18.1 | 44 |
2022 EY | 2022-Mar-06 | 12.5 LD | 6.3 | 29 |
2022 DH1 | 2022-Mar-07 | 18 LD | 7 | 45 |
2022 DS3 | 2022-Mar-09 | 13.4 LD | 3.7 | 16 |
2022 EC2 | 2022-Mar-09 | 10.8 LD | 12.3 | 14 |
2021 EY1 | 2022-Mar-10 | 10.1 LD | 15.5 | 16 |
2015 DR215 | 2022-Mar-11 | 17.5 LD | 8.3 | 290 |
2022 EV1 | 2022-Mar-11 | 10.7 LD | 8.3 | 23 |
2009 DV43 | 2022-Mar-11 | 8.2 LD | 16.5 | 65 |
2022 DX2 | 2022-Mar-13 | 15.8 LD | 12.7 | 36 |
2022 DR3 | 2022-Mar-13 | 15.6 LD | 12.4 | 32 |
2018 GY | 2022-Mar-13 | 11.9 LD | 10.7 | 43 |
2022 BX1 | 2022-Mar-13 | 20.1 LD | 11 | 161 |
2022 EA1 | 2022-Mar-14 | 8.1 LD | 5.4 | 11 |
2022 DP3 | 2022-Mar-15 | 3 LD | 10.8 | 45 |
2022 DB2 | 2022-Mar-18 | 11 LD | 8.6 | 52 |
2016 FZ12 | 2022-Mar-19 | 2.2 LD | 8.3 | 16 |
2022 DX | 2022-Mar-19 | 8.5 LD | 1.5 | 8 |
2022 DG3 | 2022-Mar-21 | 18.3 LD | 7.2 | 37 |
2020 SQ | 2022-Mar-21 | 2.8 LD | 6 | 12 |
2013 BO76 | 2022-Mar-24 | 13.3 LD | 13.8 | 271 |
2011 GE3 | 2022-Mar-26 | 7.6 LD | 7 | 22 |
2012 FX35 | 2022-Mar-26 | 13.7 LD | 5.9 | 25 |
2010 GD35 | 2022-Mar-29 | 17.7 LD | 12.5 | 43 |
2020 FW5 | 2022-Mar-30 | 8.9 LD | 13.1 | 27 |
2022 EK1 | 2022-Mar-30 | 19.1 LD | 7.6 | 45 |
2022 DX4 | 2022-Mar-31 | 16.7 LD | 6 | 40 |
2007 FF1 | 2022-Apr-01 | 19.4 LD | 12.8 | 155 |
2021 GN1 | 2022-Apr-02 | 14.4 LD | 14.3 | 19 |
2016 GW221 | 2022-Apr-02 | 9.8 LD | 5.9 | 41 |
2012 TV | 2022-Apr-05 | 19.2 LD | 18.1 | 32 |
2020 GH1 | 2022-Apr-09 | 16.8 LD | 7.2 | 28 |
2017 TO2 | 2022-Apr-10 | 17.9 LD | 11.6 | 78 |
363599 | 2022-Apr-12 | 19.3 LD | 24.5 | 221 |
2020 TQ6 | 2022-Apr-18 | 13.4 LD | 15.4 | 43 |
2017 UR2 | 2022-Apr-22 | 19.4 LD | 9.3 | 10 |
2020 VN1 | 2022-Apr-25 | 19.3 LD | 2.3 | 9 |
418135 | 2022-Apr-28 | 8.5 LD | 10.4 | 443 |
2017 XO2 | 2022-May-01 | 18.8 LD | 12.4 | 118 |
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 |
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost 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 sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.
Latest results (Nov. 2021): Our balloons have just measured a sudden drop in atmospheric radiation. It happened during the strong geomagnetic storms of Nov. 3-4, 2021. Here are the data:
This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. It happens when a CME from the sun sweeps past Earth and literally pushes cosmic rays away from our planet. Radiation from deep space that would normally pepper Earth's upper atmosphere is briefly wiped out.
We have measured Forbush decreases before. For example, here's one from Sept. 2014. The Forbush Decrease of Nov. 3-4, 2021, was the deepest in the history of our 7-year atmospheric monitoring program. Radiation levels in the stratosphere over California dropped nearly 20%, more than doubling the previous record from our dataset.
En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes, so we can sample radiation where planes fly. This plot shows how the Forbush decrease was restricted to the stratosphere; it did not affect lower levels of the atmosphere:
The dose rates shown above are expressed 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. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb.
.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. Somewhat more controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) link cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
.Technical notes: 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.
Data points in the first graph ("Stratospheric Radiation") correspond to the peak of the Regener-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 Regener 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. |
| information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
| 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 |
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