You are viewing the page for Jul. 19, 2011
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 626.7 km/sec
density: 2.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
1749 UT Jul19
24-hr: B7
1127 UT Jul19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 19 Jul 11
The sunspot number is increasing, and this could herald a break in the sun's recent quiet spell. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 127
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 18 Jul 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 18 Jul 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 102 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 18 Jul 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 5
storm
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 0.0 nT
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 19 Jul 11
Earth is entering a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jul 19 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
05 %
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: 2011 Jul 19 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
30 %
MINOR
10 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
30 %
MINOR
20 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Tuesday, Jul. 19, 2011
What's up in space
 

Metallic photos of the sun by renowned photographer Greg Piepol bring together the best of art and science. Buy one or a whole set. They make a stellar gift.

 
Metallic pictures of the Sun

SPACESHIPS IN THE SUN: Space shuttle Atlantis undocked and backed away from the International Space Station this morning at 4:18 am EDT. Less than an hour later, the two spacecraft flew directly in front of the sun over the Czech Republic in Europe. Astrophotographer Thierry Legault traveled 1300 km from Paris to catch the last double transit of NASA's 30-year shuttle program. Native Czech photographer Martin Gembec caught it too. "Farewell, Atlantis!" says Legault.

FIRST CLOSE-UP OF VESTA: Mission scientists have confirmed that Dawn is indeed in orbit around Vesta. The giant asteroid's gravity captured the spaceship during the early hours of July 16th. In return, Dawn's cameras captured the first close-up image of Vesta, just released by NASA:

The image taken for navigation purposes shows Vesta in greater detail than ever before. For comparison, take a look at previous best images of Vesta taken by the Hubble telescope in 1996.

Vesta is 530 kilometers in diameter and the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. Ground- and space-based telescopes have been photographing the ancient asteroid for more than a century, but they have not been able to see much detail on its surface. Dawn will change all that as it orbits Vesta for a full year, taking increasingly close pictures of "arguably the oldest extant primordial surface in the solar system," says Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell of UCLA.

Would you like to own a piece of Vesta? It's possible. Authentic Vesta meteorites are now available in the Space Weather Store.

HOT DINNER: Paleontologist and amateur astronomer Wienie van der Oord lives in the Arava desert in Israel, close to the Jordanian and Egyptian border. "A friend and I were hiking in the area before sunset on July 16th when I realized we hadn't eaten since breakfast," says van der Oord. It was time for a hot dinner:

"Anna tried to prevent me from burning my mouth as I took a bite out of the sun," continues van der Oord. "The meal was not as filling as I expected, so later I had the Moon for desert."

Other photographers are also finding the sun to be an appetizing target. Click on the links for more snapshots: from Tom of Derby, Western Australia; from Matthias Juergens of Gnevsdorf, Germany; from Peter Desypris of Island of Syros, Greece; from Michael Borman of Evansville, Indiana;


2011 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009]


June 2011 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora alerts: text, voice] [previous Junes: 2010, 2008, 2001]

  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 19, 2011 there were 1237 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 EZ78
Jul 10
37.3 LD
--
1.6 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 km
2007 DD
Jul 23
9.3 LD
--
31 m
2003 BK47
Jul 26
77.6 LD
--
1.1 km
2009 AV
Aug 22
49.7 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 QC10
Sep 18
50 LD
--
1.2 km
2004 SV55
Sep 19
67.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2007 TD
Sep 23
3.8 LD
--
58 m
2002 AG29
Oct 9
77.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2000 OJ8
Oct 13
49.8 LD
--
2.5 km
2009 TM8
Oct 17
1.1 LD
--
8 m
2011 FZ2
Nov 7
75.9 LD
--
1.6 km
2005 YU55
Nov 8
0.8 LD
--
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 web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Science Central
 
Conquest Graphics
  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
Trade Show Displays
   
  more links...
©2010 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.