| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 4.00 unsettled 24-hr max: Kp= 4.33 unsettled explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 4.97 nT Bz: 3.66 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 04 Dec 22 Solar wind flowing from this canyon-shaped coronal hole should reach Earth on Dec. 8th. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds The summer season for northern noctilucent clouds has ended; the southern season will begin in November. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated Dec04 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2022 Dec 04 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 20 % | 20 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 05 % | Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2022 Dec 04 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 20 % | 10 % | MINOR | 05 % | 01 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 20 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 25 % | 20 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when magnetic storms erupt. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. You can, too! | | | ORION IS ABOUT TO BUZZ THE MOON: NASA's Orion spacecraft is about to fly by the Moon only 79 km above the lunar surface. The slingshot maneuver on Monday, Dec. 5th, will propel the spacecraft toward a hot return to Earth on Dec. 11th. Live coverage begins Monday at 9 am EST on NASA TV. SOLAR ACTIVITY ON THE EASTERN LIMB: New sunspot AR3157 doesn't look like much, but it is very active, almost constantly hurling plumes of plasma into space. This interest-compressed movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows 12 hours of action on Dec. 3rd: Magnetically, sunspot AR3157 is connected to nearby sunspot AR3156. If one goes off, it could trigger an explosion in the other, boosting the odds of a significant flare. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter TAIKONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH: Three Chinese astronauts ("taikonauts") returned to Earth on Sunday, Dec 4th, following a six-month mission on China's newly-completed Tiangong space station. Amateur astronomer Gao Xing photographed the fiery reentry of their capsule from Nanshan Mountain in Xinjiang, China: "I made a video which captured both the Chinese Space Station and the Shenzhou-14 return capsule," says Xing. "The capsule carrying astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xu Zhe had already separated from the Service Module. The said Service Module can be seen trailing behind and already broken into thousands of pieces stretched over a distance of several hundred of kilometers." Not long after Xing took this picture, the capsule landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous region. Staff from the Chinese space agency declared the entire mission, which began on June 5th, a "complete success", according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. The mission was indeed significant. The three astronauts oversaw the final assembly of Tiangong, and they handed control of the space station to a new crew of 3 who arrived Nov. 29th onboard Shenzhou-15. This event therefore marks the beginning of China's permanent habitation of Earth orbit. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons. These unique gifts have floated above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out. Don't forget to enter coupon code "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% holiday discount. 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 Dec 04, 2022, the network reported 22 fireballs. (14 sporadics, 6 sigma Hydrids, 1 Geminid, 1 Nov. omega Orionid) 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 December 4, 2022 there were 2316 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2022 WE11 | 2022-Nov-29 | 0.8 LD | 9.9 | 4 | 2022 WW11 | 2022-Nov-29 | 1.4 LD | 13.4 | 15 | 2022 WS5 | 2022-Nov-29 | 4.9 LD | 11.7 | 25 | 2022 VB2 | 2022-Nov-29 | 9 LD | 8.4 | 33 | 2022 WP8 | 2022-Nov-30 | 14.5 LD | 8.5 | 52 | 2022 WE5 | 2022-Nov-30 | 4.1 LD | 8.5 | 11 | 2022 XC | 2022-Nov-30 | 1.8 LD | 11.9 | 19 | 2022 WO7 | 2022-Nov-30 | 12.8 LD | 10.4 | 44 | 2022 WK1 | 2022-Dec-01 | 14.2 LD | 12.2 | 39 | 2022 WT9 | 2022-Dec-01 | 14 LD | 10.2 | 31 | 2022 WS9 | 2022-Dec-01 | 4.6 LD | 18.1 | 34 | 2022 WX10 | 2022-Dec-02 | 7.3 LD | 5.3 | 9 | 2022 XF | 2022-Dec-02 | 9.7 LD | 8.5 | 20 | 2022 WT6 | 2022-Dec-02 | 4.7 LD | 20.2 | 22 | 2022 WN10 | 2022-Dec-02 | 3.6 LD | 22.1 | 15 | 2009 HV58 | 2022-Dec-02 | 12.3 LD | 28.8 | 419 | 2022 WQ10 | 2022-Dec-02 | 3.9 LD | 14.2 | 12 | 2022 XA | 2022-Dec-02 | 1.4 LD | 10.1 | 12 | 2022 XB | 2022-Dec-02 | 1 LD | 9.1 | 7 | 2022 UT8 | 2022-Dec-02 | 11.1 LD | 4.2 | 71 | 2022 WG9 | 2022-Dec-03 | 12.5 LD | 10.7 | 33 | 2017 QL33 | 2022-Dec-03 | 16 LD | 6.9 | 193 | 2022 WD2 | 2022-Dec-03 | 7.3 LD | 7.4 | 25 | 2010 VQ | 2022-Dec-03 | 11.3 LD | 3.9 | 10 | 2022 WR9 | 2022-Dec-03 | 7.2 LD | 13 | 13 | 2022 WO5 | 2022-Dec-04 | 19.2 LD | 9.1 | 38 | 2022 WQ5 | 2022-Dec-04 | 5.8 LD | 11.6 | 27 | 2022 XD | 2022-Dec-04 | 3.5 LD | 6.9 | 13 | 2022 WB5 | 2022-Dec-05 | 5.8 LD | 11 | 27 | 2022 VP1 | 2022-Dec-05 | 17.3 LD | 7.1 | 56 | 2022 WA6 | 2022-Dec-06 | 4.4 LD | 13.9 | 22 | 2022 WV8 | 2022-Dec-06 | 15.6 LD | 7.2 | 29 | 2022 WF8 | 2022-Dec-06 | 8.8 LD | 7.6 | 13 | 2022 WK9 | 2022-Dec-07 | 6.1 LD | 14.3 | 33 | 2022 WO10 | 2022-Dec-08 | 4.9 LD | 4.8 | 9 | 2022 WP11 | 2022-Dec-09 | 11.9 LD | 17.3 | 74 | 2022 WW | 2022-Dec-10 | 19.2 LD | 6.2 | 30 | 2019 XY | 2022-Dec-10 | 3.6 LD | 12.9 | 9 | 2003 YS70 | 2022-Dec-13 | 10.4 LD | 4.1 | 5 | 2019 XQ1 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.5 LD | 9.8 | 30 | 2018 XU3 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.8 LD | 10.3 | 28 | 2021 XS4 | 2022-Dec-14 | 14.5 LD | 9.7 | 23 | 2015 RN35 | 2022-Dec-15 | 1.8 LD | 5.9 | 85 | 2022 WU11 | 2022-Dec-17 | 11.6 LD | 10.5 | 31 | 2016 YE | 2022-Dec-18 | 18.6 LD | 4.8 | 23 | 2014 HK129 | 2022-Dec-20 | 6.7 LD | 11.6 | 216 | 2017 XQ60 | 2022-Dec-21 | 18.8 LD | 16 | 45 | 2022 UD9 | 2022-Dec-22 | 4.6 LD | 10.3 | 159 | 2022 RD2 | 2022-Dec-22 | 13.9 LD | 1.1 | 7 | 2013 YA14 | 2022-Dec-25 | 2.7 LD | 10.5 | 68 | 2022 TE14 | 2022-Dec-25 | 11.2 LD | 7 | 127 | 2018 YK2 | 2022-Dec-26 | 15.8 LD | 15.1 | 98 | 2022 WV9 | 2022-Dec-27 | 6.6 LD | 7.3 | 45 | 2010 XC15 | 2022-Dec-27 | 2 LD | 10.1 | 182 | 2021 AE | 2022-Dec-28 | 16.5 LD | 15 | 23 | 2021 NF | 2023-Jan-02 | 17.9 LD | 11.3 | 40 | 2011 WR41 | 2023-Jan-03 | 15.8 LD | 8.9 | 34 | 2019 AY3 | 2023-Jan-04 | 16.8 LD | 19.7 | 62 | 2021 TL | 2023-Jan-09 | 14.2 LD | 8.5 | 75 | 2014 LJ | 2023-Jan-14 | 4.8 LD | 3.5 | 7 | 2012 BV13 | 2023-Jan-16 | 12.2 LD | 6.7 | 134 | 2020 BP | 2023-Jan-20 | 5.2 LD | 16.9 | 26 | 2019 BO2 | 2023-Jan-24 | 12.1 LD | 16.2 | 21 | 2019 BZ4 | 2023-Jan-24 | 16.5 LD | 5.6 | 20 | 2020 BZ14 | 2023-Jan-26 | 8.8 LD | 6.7 | 54 | 2022 SO113 | 2023-Jan-29 | 10.5 LD | 3.5 | 73 | Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. | 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 (July 2022): Atmospheric radiation is decreasing in 2022. Our latest measurements in July 2022 registered a 6-year low: What's going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun's strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called "Forbush Decreases." The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down. .Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, 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. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking 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 graph labeled "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 | | current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page | | Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries | | 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 | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | To find reviews of new online casino sites in the UK try The Casino DB where there are hundreds of online casino reviews complete with bonuses and ratings. 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