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SURPRISE GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on August 7th. At first, the stream's velocity was low, but during the day it sped up to more than 600 km/s, ultimately triggering a G2-class (moderately strong) geomagnetic storm. This event was not in the forecast, so the resulting auroras came as a surprise.
"I was already in bed getting ready for sleep when the storm began," says Ruslan Merzlyakov. "Rushing to the beach in Nykøbing Mors, I was able to photograph the first summer auroras in Denmark in 5 years."
"Seeing the lights dance on a warm summer night was a great experience!" he says.
In North American, auroras spilled across the Canadian border as far south as Pennsylvannia. In Wayne County, PA, Sujay Singh photographed both red auroras and STEVE. Auroras were also sighted in Montana and the Dakotas.
The solar wind stream that sparked this display is a bit of a puzzle. It might be the early arrival of a stream originally expected on Aug. 9th, flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere. Or, perhaps, a CME was involved. A discontinuity in solar wind data at 0045 UT on Aug. 7th hints at a shock wave embedded in the solar wind. These days, the active sun is producing so many minor explosions, it is easy to overlook faint CMEs heading for Earth.
Despite the surprise, subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service were aware of the storm. Instant text alerts announced the arrival of the solar wind and the subsequent G2 event. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
more images: from Göran Strand of Östersund, Sweden; from Sebastian Sainio of Ostrobothnia, Finland; from Mikko Peussa of Nousiainen, Finland; from Jacob Eubank of Whitefish, Montana; from Henning Untiedt of Tröndel, Baltic Sea, Germany; from Alan Dyer near Gleichen, Alberta
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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A VOLCANO OVERCAST BY ELECTRIC BLUE: Last Wednesday, Iceland's Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted--the second year in a row it has done that. "Yesterday around 2 a.m. I was lucky to see the erupting volcano and noctilucent clouds for the first time ever!" says Madelon Dielen, who sends this picture from the Reykjanes Peninsula:
"What a wonderful combination!" says Dielen.
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise up to the edge of space and crystallize around meteor smoke. Normally they peak in July, then fade in August. This August is a little different, however. Data from NASA's AIM spacecraft show that seasonal NLC abundances are near a 15-year high--an enhancement that might be linked to increasing space traffic. Whatever the cause, more photos of Fagradalsfjall overcast by electric blue may be in the offing. Stay tuned.
Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
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COSMIC RAY YIN-YANG PENDANT: To celebrate the yin-yang relationship between solar activity and galactic cosmic rays, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus just launched a yin-yang pendant to the stratosphere. On July 23rd, it flew 104,265 ft high onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $133.95. The pendant's sterling silver frame surrounds balancing swirls of black onyx and mother of pearl--all suspended from a matching 18-inch sterling silver chain. It makes a great anniversary, birthday or (never too early!) Christmas gift.
The students are selling yin-yang 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 journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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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 Aug 08, 2022, the network reported 51 fireballs.
(27 sporadics, 22 Perseids, 2 Delta Aquariids)
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 August 8, 2022 there were 2291 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2022 PA | 2022-Aug-03 | 3.3 LD | 24.9 | 23 |
2020 PN1 | 2022-Aug-03 | 9.7 LD | 4.6 | 29 |
2022 OE2 | 2022-Aug-04 | 13.5 LD | 32.2 | 224 |
2022 OC3 | 2022-Aug-04 | 3.2 LD | 3.8 | 7 |
2022 OJ3 | 2022-Aug-04 | 5 LD | 12.5 | 39 |
2022 OE6 | 2022-Aug-05 | 7.5 LD | 11.2 | 13 |
2022 OB5 | 2022-Aug-05 | 2.7 LD | 2.1 | 6 |
2022 PX | 2022-Aug-06 | 6.7 LD | 10.2 | 50 |
2022 PE | 2022-Aug-06 | 2.5 LD | 3.9 | 8 |
2022 OH2 | 2022-Aug-07 | 4.4 LD | 4 | 12 |
2022 OC4 | 2022-Aug-09 | 4 LD | 7.5 | 11 |
2022 PF | 2022-Aug-09 | 4.5 LD | 9.6 | 14 |
2022 PA1 | 2022-Aug-10 | 2.7 LD | 16.3 | 18 |
2015 FF | 2022-Aug-12 | 11.2 LD | 9.2 | 17 |
2022 OT1 | 2022-Aug-13 | 12.4 LD | 5.8 | 36 |
2022 OA4 | 2022-Aug-14 | 18.2 LD | 7.9 | 23 |
2022 PW | 2022-Aug-16 | 1.4 LD | 7.5 | 29 |
2022 PC | 2022-Aug-18 | 16.5 LD | 4.1 | 61 |
2019 AV13 | 2022-Aug-20 | 13.8 LD | 9.2 | 135 |
2020 QW3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 14.1 LD | 18.1 | 30 |
2015 QH3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 5.6 LD | 7 | 14 |
2017 BU | 2022-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 7 | 32 |
2021 CQ5 | 2022-Sep-01 | 8.7 LD | 13.5 | 7 |
2020 PT4 | 2022-Sep-15 | 19.7 LD | 10.8 | 39 |
2016 HF2 | 2022-Sep-29 | 19.2 LD | 5.6 | 21 |
2018 ER1 | 2022-Oct-02 | 14.7 LD | 4 | 27 |
2018 VG | 2022-Oct-05 | 18.5 LD | 6.7 | 12 |
2021 TJ10 | 2022-Oct-06 | 19.6 LD | 8.1 | 6 |
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 (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 |
| 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 |
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