| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 2.00 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 2.67 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 3.43 nT Bz: -2.26 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1147 UT Coronal Holes: 17 Jun 23 Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds The northern season for NLCs began on May 26th. The first clouds were detected inside the Arctic Circle by the NOAA 21 satellite. An instrument onboard NOAA 21 (OMPS LP) is able to detect NLCs (also known as "polar mesospheric clouds" or PMCs). For the rest of the season, daily maps from NOAA 21 will be presented here: Updated: June 16, 2023 Each dot is a detected cloud. As the season progresses, these dots will multiply in number and shift in hue from blue to red as the brightness of the clouds intensifies. What happened to NASA's AIM spacecraft, which has been monitoring NLCs since 2007? Earlier this year, the spacecraft's battery failed. As a result AIM is offline, perhaps permanently. There may be some hope of a recovery as AIM's orbit precesses into full sunlight in 2024. Until then, we will maintain AIM's iconic "daily daisy," frozen at Feb. 28, 2023, as a show of thanks for years of service and hope for future daisies: | | | Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated Jun17 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2023 Jun 17 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 30 % | 30 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 05 % | Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2023 Jun 17 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 25 % | MINOR | 01 % | 10 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 05 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 10 % | MINOR | 15 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 10 % | 35 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Text created by ChatGPT and other Large Language Models is spreading rapidly across the Internet. It's well-written, artificial, frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being. This is an AI Free Zone! | | | CHANCE OF FLARES TODAY: NOAA forecasters say there is a 30% chance of M-class solar flares today. That may be an underestimate. Yesterday, three different sunspots (AR3331, 37, 38) produced category M1 flares. The same three active regions appear capable of flaring again on June 17th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text CIR SPARKS G2-CLASS GEOMAGNETIC STORM: If you've never heard of a CIR, there's only one thing you really need to know: CIRs are good at making auroras. One hit Earth yesterday and lit up both ends of our planet--north and south. "The display in New Zealand was one for the ages," reports Ian Griffin from Hoopers Inlet on the Otago Peninsula: "The aurora kept pulsing and, just as you thought it was going to end it exploded into life again," he says. "What a night!" Short for "co-rotating interaction regions," CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Solar wind plasma piles up in these regions, producing shock-like structures that mimic CMEs. NOAA correctly predicted the arrival of a CIR on June 15th. Its impact opened a crack in our planet's magnetic field, fueling a G2-class geomagnetic storm that persisted through June 16th. Because of the northern summer sun, Arctic observers couldn't see the show. Some auroras, however, did spill into darkness at lower latitudes. Jeff Berkes sends this photo from Cape Cod, Massachusetts: "The lights were faint at first, then really juiced up around midnight," he says. "I could see these pillars with the naked eye from the Highland Lighthouse." Did you miss the storm? Subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service received an instant text message when the CIR arrived. It announced itself by the crack it formed in Earth's magnetic field. PRO PLAN subscribers were thus able to prepare for the subsequent geomagnetic storm. more images: from Mark Staples flying over the North Atlantic; from Philip Granrud of Whitefish, Montana; from Kalyky of Custer County, Montana; from Didier Walliang of Quesnoy-le-Montant, France; from Jamie McBean of Herne Bay, Kent, UK; from Ian Carstairs of Harleston, Norfolk, UK; Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter "I LOVE YOU FOREVER" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the "I Love You Forever" Moonstone. This one hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research ballooin on May 13th: You can have it for $162.95. The moonstone's sterling silver infinity wrap is inscribed with the words "I love you forever." It makes a great anniversary or birthday gift. The moonstone comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight, telling the story of its trip 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 Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter 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 Jun 17, 2023, the network reported 7 fireballs. (7 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] 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 June 17, 2023 there were 2335 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2023 LA | 2023-Jun-12 | 1.7 LD | 10.4 | 31 | 488453 | 2023-Jun-12 | 8.3 LD | 21.5 | 495 | 2023 LQ | 2023-Jun-12 | 4.1 LD | 10.4 | 23 | 2023 MC | 2023-Jun-12 | 6.5 LD | 10.4 | 27 | 2023 LD2 | 2023-Jun-12 | 1.3 LD | 7.6 | 23 | 2023 LP1 | 2023-Jun-13 | 0.7 LD | 13.4 | 4 | 2023 LJ1 | 2023-Jun-13 | 8.8 LD | 12.2 | 25 | 2022 WN4 | 2023-Jun-13 | 10.8 LD | 15.1 | 158 | 2023 LO | 2023-Jun-13 | 4.6 LD | 5 | 11 | 2023 LZ | 2023-Jun-14 | 0.8 LD | 13.6 | 18 | 2020 DB5 | 2023-Jun-15 | 11.3 LD | 9.5 | 506 | 2023 LL1 | 2023-Jun-15 | 1.5 LD | 10.7 | 8 | 2023 LM1 | 2023-Jun-15 | 0.3 LD | 9.2 | 7 | 2023 MB | 2023-Jun-16 | 13.5 LD | 5.5 | 20 | 2023 LQ1 | 2023-Jun-16 | 2.7 LD | 8.4 | 14 | 2023 HL | 2023-Jun-17 | 13.5 LD | 1 | 15 | 2023 LV1 | 2023-Jun-17 | 14.7 LD | 16.5 | 190 | 2023 LE2 | 2023-Jun-17 | 0.4 LD | 6.8 | 3 | 2023 LV | 2023-Jun-18 | 11.9 LD | 8 | 34 | 2023 LW | 2023-Jun-18 | 6.1 LD | 16.7 | 33 | 2016 LK49 | 2023-Jun-19 | 17.4 LD | 19.4 | 22 | 2023 LT1 | 2023-Jun-20 | 1.8 LD | 10.3 | 16 | 2023 HF1 | 2023-Jun-21 | 12.5 LD | 4.4 | 59 | 467336 | 2023-Jun-24 | 17.4 LD | 7.1 | 269 | 2008 LG2 | 2023-Jun-24 | 10.5 LD | 5.6 | 32 | 2013 WV44 | 2023-Jun-28 | 9.1 LD | 11.8 | 95 | 2022 MM1 | 2023-Jun-29 | 9.8 LD | 9.7 | 41 | 2023 LG2 | 2023-Jul-01 | 5.7 LD | 2.8 | 26 | 2020 NC | 2023-Jul-02 | 13.9 LD | 7.7 | 123 | 2023 HO6 | 2023-Jul-05 | 5.3 LD | 7.8 | 231 | 2023 LH2 | 2023-Jul-06 | 18.8 LD | 7.9 | 35 | 2019 LH5 | 2023-Jul-07 | 14.9 LD | 21.6 | 281 | 2018 NW | 2023-Jul-10 | 18 LD | 21.8 | 10 | 2023 LN1 | 2023-Jul-10 | 17.9 LD | 5.8 | 63 | 2018 UY | 2023-Jul-12 | 7.4 LD | 16.4 | 243 | 2020 UQ3 | 2023-Jul-18 | 3.2 LD | 9.3 | 59 | 2022 GX2 | 2023-Jul-20 | 11.9 LD | 9.4 | 5 | 2020 OM | 2023-Jul-20 | 8.5 LD | 9.5 | 14 | 2015 MA54 | 2023-Jul-24 | 16.6 LD | 9.2 | 31 | 2018 BG5 | 2023-Jul-27 | 10.7 LD | 8.4 | 56 | 2020 PP1 | 2023-Jul-29 | 17 LD | 4.1 | 17 | 2021 BD3 | 2023-Jul-30 | 14 LD | 8.5 | 25 | 2016 AW65 | 2023-Jul-31 | 16.6 LD | 5.7 | 54 | 2020 PN1 | 2023-Aug-03 | 10.8 LD | 4.8 | 29 | 620082 | 2023-Aug-04 | 14 LD | 20.6 | 375 | 2004 KG1 | 2023-Aug-06 | 18.7 LD | 9.2 | 54 | 2022 BS2 | 2023-Aug-11 | 17.3 LD | 8.2 | 30 | 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 | | Getting YouTube comments is essential if you want to beat the algorithm! That’s why you need to buy YouTube comments from RealSocialz.com because they offer real USA comments you can customize. | | 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. | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | | | | | ©2021 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |