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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 352.3 km/sec
density: 4.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2115 UT Jul12
24-hr: A1
0005 UT Jul12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 12 July 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 11 July 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 1 days
2009 total: 143 days (75%)
Since 2004: 654 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 11 July 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.4 nT
Bz: 2.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on July 13th or 14th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Jul 12 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
CLASS X
01 %
01 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2009 Jul 12 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 12, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

SHUTTLE LAUNCH--DELAYED AGAIN: For the second day in a row, thunderstorms have delayed launch of space shuttle Endeavour. Check NASA's launch blog for updates.

LIGHTNING STRIKE: On Friday night, July 10th, space shuttle Endeavour was poised to blast off for the International Space Station when a thunderstorm rolled in and lightning struck the launch area at least 11 times. Gene Blevins of the LA Daily News photographed one of the most dramatic strikes through a rain-splattered lens:


Photo credit and copyright: Gene Blevins, LA Daily News

Lightning did not hit the shuttle itself. The powerful bolts were intercepted by the shuttle's lightning protection system. Nevertheless, NASA postponed the launch until Sunday, July 12th at 7:13 p.m. EDT, to give engineers time to assess any possible damage. The weather forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of fair weather.

NASA has plenty of experience with lightning. The Kennedy Space Center is located in Florida, lightning capital of the USA. Modern lightning suppression systems have kept the shuttle safe, but back in November 1969, an Apollo mission had a very scary moment. Apollo 12's Saturn V rocket was struck by lightning twice during launch. The spacecraft guidance system lost its attitude reference, dozens of cockpit warning lights were illuminated, and telemetry to Mission Control was garbled. Amazingly, the mighty rocket continued unperturbed; astronauts cooly reset their control systems and the Apollo 12 mission was a success. Who's afraid of a little lightning?

CREPUSCULAR RAYS: On Saturday evening, July 11th, Alan Dyer was watching a nice purple volcanic sunset from Gleichen, Alberta, when two giant rays split the sky:

"These shadows diverging from the sunset point were likely created by distant storm clouds over the horizon to the west,"days Dyer. "It was one of the best displays of crepuscular rays I've ever seen."

"The image is a High Dynamic Range stack consisting of three exposures, each one 1-stop apart, to record both the darker ground (a field of yellow canola) and details in the brighter sky," he notes. "I used a Canon 5D MkII and a 16-35mm lens."

2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery
[See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery]


2009 Noctilucent Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 July 12, 2009 there were 1065 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 MM8
July 13
11.4 LD
18
53 m
2008 NP3
July 18
11.8 LD
18
87 m
2006 TU7
July 20
14.2 LD
17
175 m
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.
Essential Links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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