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EARTH-DIRECTED CME (UPDATED): Today, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected a halo CME leaving the sun. It is heading straight for Earth. NOAA and NASA models agree that the CME should arrive during the late hours of Nov. 11th (UT), bringing a chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
LUNAR OCCULTATION OF VENUS: Venus and the Moon just had a beautiful close encounter. This morning in Europe, sky watchers witnessed a lunar occultation of the second planet. At the Institute of Space Science in Romania, astronomer Maximilian Teodorescu used an ultraviolet filter to take this composite picture of Venus disappearing behind the Moon's limb:
Teodorescu used a Baader UV filter hoping to catch some photogenic structure in Venus's cloudtops. In doing so, he photographed a mystery.
Seen through an ordinary backyard telescope, Venus seems bland, a featureless, cloud-covered orb about as interesting as a billiard ball. But if that same telescope is fitted with an ultraviolet filter, Venus' clouds transform themselves into a tiger's coat of fast-moving dark bands.
The bands are the mystery. Some unknown substance within them strongly absorbs UV light, accounting for almost half of the solar energy trapped by Venus. Whatever is in there, it plays a big role in maintaining Venus' hellish climate; the average temperature on the surface is about 460° Celsius.
Astronomers have been studying the bands since Mariner 10 spotted them in the 1970s, but half-a-century later no one knows the identity of the "UV absorbers." Candidates range from gaseous chlorine and sulfur compounds to alien life using UV radiation as a source of energy.
Whatever they are, the bands are undeniably pretty. "I believe they add a bit of depth to the view--something similar to the famous Apollo images of Earthrise from behind the Moon," says Teodorescu.
More pictures of the occultation may be found in the Realtime Venus Photo Gallery.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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THIS IS NOT A FLYING SAUCER: For a few milliseconds last Sunday night, Nov. 5th, an enormous ring of red light appeared over the Carribbean. Frankie Lucena photographed it from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico:
This is an "ELVE"--short for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources. It's a rare species of sprite discovered in 1990 by cameras onboard the space shuttle.
"The ELVE was generated by intense lightning in a thunderstorm 725 km south of me," says Lucena. One bolt was so strong, it generated an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The red ring marks the spot where the EMP hit Earth's ionosphere. Normal lightning bolts carry 10 to 30 kilo-ampères of current; this bolt was 244 kilo-ampères, about 10 times stronger than normal.
Lucena also made a video of the ELVE. Watch it on Youtube.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: This is a must-have Christmas ornament for space fans: The Voyager Golden Record. On Oct. 31, 2023, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $99.95. The 3-inch aluminum disk is imprinted with instructions intended for extraterrestrials, telling them how to play the phonographs now sailing through interstellar space onboard NASA's Voyager probes. Having touched the edge of space, it's the closest thing on Earth to an actual Golden Record.
The students are selling these unique ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and extra materials decoding the markings on the disk.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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Realtime Comet 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 Nov 09, 2023, the network reported 25 fireballs.
(21 sporadics, 2 Northern Taurids, 1 chi Taurid, 1 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 November 9, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2019 UH7 | 2023-Nov-04 | 9.9 LD | 5.9 | 11 |
2023 VE1 | 2023-Nov-04 | 0.1 LD | 6.5 | 3 |
2023 TL31 | 2023-Nov-04 | 8.1 LD | 9.2 | 28 |
2023 VM3 | 2023-Nov-04 | 9.2 LD | 12.1 | 15 |
2023 VT2 | 2023-Nov-04 | 11.1 LD | 14.8 | 21 |
2023 VO1 | 2023-Nov-04 | 0.2 LD | 16.4 | 4 |
2023 VU | 2023-Nov-05 | 2.6 LD | 14.4 | 20 |
2023 VE3 | 2023-Nov-05 | 1.2 LD | 10.5 | 14 |
2023 UG4 | 2023-Nov-06 | 6.5 LD | 3.5 | 18 |
2023 VG1 | 2023-Nov-06 | 7.9 LD | 10.3 | 13 |
2023 TO15 | 2023-Nov-06 | 15.2 LD | 11.2 | 50 |
2023 VF4 | 2023-Nov-06 | 7.8 LD | 12.8 | 27 |
2023 VE | 2023-Nov-07 | 3.1 LD | 12.1 | 11 |
2023 VS | 2023-Nov-07 | 1 LD | 3.5 | 4 |
2023 VH2 | 2023-Nov-07 | 17.3 LD | 14.3 | 28 |
2023 VB2 | 2023-Nov-07 | 0.1 LD | 18 | 8 |
2023 VP3 | 2023-Nov-07 | 0.3 LD | 6.6 | 5 |
2023 VD2 | 2023-Nov-07 | 0.1 LD | 8.1 | 3 |
2023 VZ3 | 2023-Nov-07 | 11.1 LD | 13.9 | 18 |
2023 VR | 2023-Nov-07 | 2.4 LD | 11.8 | 10 |
2023 VC4 | 2023-Nov-08 | 1 LD | 9.5 | 16 |
2023 TD14 | 2023-Nov-08 | 9.3 LD | 6.3 | 25 |
2023 VD3 | 2023-Nov-08 | 1.3 LD | 17.9 | 14 |
2023 VZ2 | 2023-Nov-08 | 5.6 LD | 11.2 | 15 |
2023 VW | 2023-Nov-08 | 1.7 LD | 8 | 9 |
2023 VC | 2023-Nov-09 | 6.3 LD | 9.6 | 29 |
2023 VN1 | 2023-Nov-09 | 14.4 LD | 7.6 | 14 |
2023 VU2 | 2023-Nov-10 | 1.9 LD | 6.1 | 8 |
2023 VT3 | 2023-Nov-10 | 11.1 LD | 7.5 | 19 |
2023 VD4 | 2023-Nov-10 | 0.4 LD | 15.6 | 9 |
2023 VY3 | 2023-Nov-11 | 3.5 LD | 16.1 | 11 |
2023 VD1 | 2023-Nov-11 | 17.2 LD | 10 | 32 |
2023 VL2 | 2023-Nov-11 | 2.7 LD | 5.9 | 8 |
2023 VK3 | 2023-Nov-11 | 7.4 LD | 3.7 | 8 |
2023 UQ4 | 2023-Nov-11 | 10.7 LD | 8.4 | 40 |
2023 VF3 | 2023-Nov-12 | 8.9 LD | 9 | 19 |
2023 VR3 | 2023-Nov-12 | 6 LD | 7.7 | 19 |
2023 VK1 | 2023-Nov-12 | 10.1 LD | 9.1 | 28 |
2023 TZ2 | 2023-Nov-12 | 19 LD | 2.8 | 24 |
2023 VY1 | 2023-Nov-13 | 8.9 LD | 6.3 | 39 |
2014 BA3 | 2023-Nov-13 | 15.7 LD | 2.7 | 8 |
2023 VV1 | 2023-Nov-13 | 2 LD | 3.7 | 6 |
2023 VX | 2023-Nov-13 | 17.4 LD | 11.1 | 50 |
2023 UO | 2023-Nov-15 | 6.4 LD | 6.8 | 37 |
2021 TN3 | 2023-Nov-15 | 17 LD | 6.3 | 31 |
2019 VL5 | 2023-Nov-16 | 8.5 LD | 8.2 | 24 |
2019 LB1 | 2023-Nov-18 | 15.8 LD | 4.2 | 14 |
2016 DK1 | 2023-Nov-19 | 5.3 LD | 6.8 | 12 |
2022 VR1 | 2023-Nov-19 | 8.1 LD | 6.1 | 39 |
2023 VE4 | 2023-Nov-20 | 13.3 LD | 11.6 | 37 |
2019 UT6 | 2023-Nov-24 | 9 LD | 13.2 | 141 |
2019 CZ2 | 2023-Nov-25 | 2.8 LD | 5.8 | 44 |
2023 VM1 | 2023-Nov-26 | 10.9 LD | 8.9 | 43 |
2013 UB3 | 2023-Nov-27 | 18.5 LD | 5.4 | 25 |
1998 WB2 | 2023-Dec-03 | 11 LD | 14.2 | 151 |
2013 VX4 | 2023-Dec-04 | 5.1 LD | 6.6 | 60 |
2023 TB27 | 2023-Dec-06 | 17 LD | 4.3 | 45 |
139622 | 2023-Dec-06 | 14.4 LD | 6.7 | 719 |
2020 HX3 | 2023-Dec-10 | 9.8 LD | 15.7 | 13 |
2010 XF3 | 2023-Dec-11 | 19.4 LD | 4 | 46 |
2016 XD2 | 2023-Dec-19 | 18.7 LD | 6.9 | 59 |
341843 | 2023-Dec-20 | 16.5 LD | 5.3 | 344 |
2018 YJ2 | 2023-Dec-21 | 18.4 LD | 13.1 | 154 |
2022 YG | 2023-Dec-22 | 10.8 LD | 5.1 | 17 |
2020 YO3 | 2023-Dec-23 | 3.6 LD | 16.6 | 42 |
2010 UE51 | 2023-Dec-24 | 9 LD | 1.3 | 7 |
2020 YR2 | 2023-Dec-25 | 13.8 LD | 8 | 8 |
2021 AM6 | 2023-Dec-31 | 18.3 LD | 6.6 | 17 |
2019 KK5 | 2024-Jan-03 | 10.6 LD | 20.9 | 98 |
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 |
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