| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 2 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 2.5 nT Bz: -1.1 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2349 UT Coronal Holes: 14 Nov 17 A stream of solar wind flowing from this northern coronal hole should reach Earth on Nov. 14-15. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft show that the 2017 northern summer season for noctilucent clouds has finished. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated at: 09-03-2017 01:55:03 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2017 Nov 13 2200 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: 2017 Nov 13 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 35 % | 40 % | MINOR | 15 % | 15 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 20 % | MINOR | 30 % | 30 % | SEVERE | 50 % | 35 % | | | | | | | | | | | | All-inclusive Northern Lights trips in Tromsø, Norway. Small groups, big experiences! Highly qualified guides ensure unique and unforgettable adventures with a personal touch. Visit Explore the Arctic | | | CO-ROTATING INTERACTION REGION: Later today, Nov. 14th, a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) might hit Earth. CIRs are transition zones between slow- and fast-moving solar wind streams. They contain plasma density gradients and intense magnetic fields that often do a good job sparking auroras. NOAA forecasters say that G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Nov. 14-15 after the CIR arrives. Free: Aurora Alerts. POLAR SUNRISE: Around the Arctic Circle, the sun is about to set ... for months. That makes each remaining sunrise a special occasion. Yesterday's was extra special. As amber glow of dawn intensified, Venus and Jupiter made a rare appearance only a fraction of a degree apart: "The wonderful pair of Venus and Jupiter appeared from behind the epic Lyngen mountains," says photographer M-P Markkanen, who was camping near Tromsø, Norway. "Out of the two, Jupiter was pretty hard to spot with the naked eye, because the Sun gave a lot of light already, since it comes up in such a low angle up here. We watched as the planets slowly faded into the morning light, and enjoyed the brief moment the sun was visible. Those moments feel precious; after one week from now, the next sunrise will be at the end of January!" Now for the good news: The waxing darkness is about to become a velvety backdrop for Arctic auroras, 24/7. Stay tuned for that. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery THIS CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT HAS TOUCHED SPACE: On Nov. 2, 2017, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a space weather balloon to the stratosphere. These kids do science, and the payload of their balloon carried an array of cosmic ray sensors to measure radiation coming from deep space. Oh, and one more thing…. BB-8: During the 2.5 hour flight, the plucky robot experienced temperatures as low as -67 C and cosmic ray dose rates 100x Earth-normal. After the balloon exploded 107,342 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California, BB-8 parachuted back to Earth, landing in the desert near Silver Peak, Nevada. You can have BB-8 for $79.95. Each ornament comes with a unique gift card showing BB-8 floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight. It also comes with a bonus photo of BB-8 in the stratosphere. Hang it on your Christmas tree alongside BB-8 to impress holiday visitors! Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All proceeds support hands-on STEM education Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery 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. 14, 2017, the network reported 43 fireballs. (35 sporadics, 4 Northern Taurids, 2 omicron Eridanids, 2 Leonids) 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 14, 2017 there were 1853 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2017 TZ3 | 2017-Nov-09 | 10.3 LD | 8.7 | 39 | 2017 VC | 2017-Nov-10 | 9.9 LD | 7.3 | 86 | 2017 VZ1 | 2017-Nov-11 | 8.7 LD | 12 | 23 | 2017 VE2 | 2017-Nov-12 | 7.2 LD | 14 | 32 | 444584 | 2017-Nov-17 | 8.7 LD | 14.8 | 324 | 2008 WM61 | 2017-Dec-03 | 3.8 LD | 4.7 | 16 | 2015 XX169 | 2017-Dec-14 | 9.7 LD | 6.3 | 11 | 2011 YD29 | 2017-Dec-19 | 17.6 LD | 7.7 | 20 | 2006 XY | 2017-Dec-20 | 6.5 LD | 5 | 56 | 2017 TS3 | 2017-Dec-22 | 18.1 LD | 10.2 | 136 | 418849 | 2017-Dec-22 | 15.3 LD | 17.4 | 257 | 2015 YQ1 | 2017-Dec-22 | 17.3 LD | 11.1 | 9 | 2017 QL33 | 2017-Dec-30 | 13.3 LD | 8.2 | 191 | 2015 RT1 | 2018-Jan-02 | 19.7 LD | 9 | 30 | 2004 FH | 2018-Jan-10 | 20 LD | 8.5 | 26 | 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 | Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here: This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed 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. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California. What is this all about? Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015: Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation. 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. The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-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 Reneger 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. | | 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 | | Reviews here can help you to pick up best memory foam mattresses. | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | | | | | ©2017 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |