Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days 2022 total: 0 days (0%) 2021 total: 64 days (18%) 2020 total: 208 days (57%) 2019 total: 281 days (77%) 2018 total: 221 days (61%) 2017 total: 104 days (28%) 2016 total: 32 days (9%) 2015 total: 0 days (0%) 2014 total: 1 day (<1%) 2013 total: 0 days (0%) 2012 total: 0 days (0%) 2011 total: 2 days (<1%) 2010 total: 51 days (14%) 2009 total: 260 days (71%) 2008 total: 268 days (73%) 2007 total: 152 days (42%) 2006 total: 70 days (19%) Updated 09 Feb 2022
Thermosphere Climate Index today: 11.53x1010W Cool Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957) Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009) explanation | more data:gfx, txt Updated 09 Feb 2022
Cosmic RaysSolar Cycle 25 is beginning, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining--a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays. Oulu Neutron Counts Percentages of the Space Age average: today: +8.3% High 48-hr change: +0.3% Max: +11.7% Very High (12/2009) Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991) explanation |more data Updated 09 Feb 2022 @ 0700 UT
Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 1 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 1 quiet explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 9.7 nT Bz: -3.1 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2344 UT
Coronal Holes: 09 Feb 22
Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 13-14. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent CloudsThe southern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds has begun. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the first electric-blue puffs over Antarctica on Dec. 14th.
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 Feb 09 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
45 %
MINOR
35 %
20 %
SEVERE
10 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
10 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
75 %
60 %
Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022
What's up in space
Lights Over Lapland has a full catalogue of exciting adventures in Abisko National Park, Sweden! Check out our daytime and evening activities and book your adventure!
CME IMPACT BUT NO STORM (YET): A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field today, Feb. 9th @ 2100 UT. So far the impact has not sparked a geomagnetic storm. However, it often takes hours or even more than a day for storms to develop as Earth glides through a CME's magnetized wake. Indeed, such a delayed storm was the cause of the Starlink Incident, described below. Stay tuned for updates. Auroras alerts:SMS Text.
GEOMAGNETIC STORM BRINGS DOWN STARLINK SATELLITES: As many as 40 Starlink satellites are currently falling out of the sky--the surprising result of a minor geomagnetic storm. SpaceX made the announcement yesterday:
"On Thursday, Feb. 3rd at 1:13 p.m. EST, Falcon 9 launched 49 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ... Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday, [Feb. 4th]."
Two days before launch a CME hit Earth's magnetic field. It was not a major space weather event. In fact, the weak impact did not at first spark any remarkable geomagnetic activity. However, as Earth passed through the CME's wake, some sputtering G1-class geomagnetic storms developed. It was one of these minor storms that caught the Starlink satellites on Feb. 4th.
Geomagnetic storms heat Earth's upper atmosphere. Diaphanous tendrils of warming air literally reached up and grabbed the Starlink satellites. According to SpaceX, onboard GPS devices detected atmospheric drag increasing "up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches."
"The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag," says SpaceX. "Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe-mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere."
The Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe apparently caught one of the reentries over Puerto Rico on Feb. 7th:
SpaceX says that the deorbiting satellites "pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground."
Keep an eye on the night sky this week. You might catch a Starlink satellite burning up overhead. Solar flare alerts:SMS Text.
VALENTINE'S GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Does your sweetheart love space? Their perfect Valentine's gift may be in the Earth to Sky Store. All items in the store have flown to the edge of space on board cosmic ray research balloons. From now until Feb. 14th, everything is 10% off:
Each purchase comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Don't forget to enter the coupon code "ILOVESPACE" for your Valentine's discount!
SUNSPOT ARCHIPELAGO: An archipelago of sunspots is growing between the primary cores of AR2941. This movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures 48 hours of action:
The magnetic island chain stretches nearly 200,000 km with more than a dozen moon-sized spots turning toward Earth. Altogether they have an unstable 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Any eruptions today will be Earth-directed. Solar flare alerts:SMS Text.
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 08, 2022, the network reported 14 fireballs. (14 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]
Near Earth Asteroids
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 9, 2022 there were 2267 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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.
Looking for sports betting companies not registered on GamStop? CasinoGap has presented a list of sites not on GamStop available for UK players. Check and bet online!
Would you like to bet at sites not using GamStop? Look at a list of NonStopCasino sites for online betting that aren't on GamStop. Top-rated bookmakers ever!
One of the most popular casino games is the Book Of Dead Slot based on ancient Egyptian text, you can find all the casinos with spins at bookofdeadslotsites.com.
Strange but true: Online casinos support science education
When looking for casinos to play online when the weather is bad, you can try casino online trucchi for Italian games. If you are not from Finland you can try the Swedish page Svenska casino online to find suitable games, check out svenskacasinoonline.net. Always check your local laws before playing with real money.
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. Alternatively, Online-Casinos.xyz is another massive directory of online casinos listing sites for the UK and Worldwide.
Casinos that offer Rupees for bonuses are very generous to Indian players. Find the best online casinos in India at AllCasinos.in
Looking for a new online casino? Try Casimpo the new site dedicated to making online casino simple, or check out the new Avenger Slots Casino and Ace Online Casino with over 500 online slots and casino games.
These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters!
* Elija solo casino online España confiable y con licencia, para que pueda estar seguro de que recibirá sus ganancias y jugará a las mejores tragamonedas o ruleta en vivo
* Searching for best pokies and honest bonus offers? Choose casino online Australia and enjoy top casino games with free spins!
Bist Du auf der Suche nach einem Beste online Casino in Deutschland? SchweinGehabt.de möchte Dir dabei helfen! Mehrjährige Erfahrungen in diesem Bereich als Dealer und professioneller Spieler stehen Dir zur Verfügung