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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 433.8 km/sec
density: 2.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
1847 UT Sep19
24-hr: C6
1541 UT Sep19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 19 Sep 11
Sunspot 1295 poses a threat for Earth-directed M-flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 144
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 18 Sep 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 18 Sep 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 150 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 18 Sep 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.7 nT
Bz: 4.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 19 Sep 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Sep 19 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
40 %
40 %
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 Sep 19 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
09 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Monday, Sep. 19, 2011
What's up in space
 

Turn your cell phone into a field-tested satellite tracker. Works for Android and iPhone.

 
Satellite flybys

REENTRY ALERT: NASA reports that UARS, an atmospheric research satellite the size of a small bus, will re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 23, plus or minus one day. Not all of the spectacularly-disintegrating spacecraft will burn up in the atmosphere; debris could be scattered along a ground track some 500 miles long. Because of the rapid evolution of UARS's decaying orbit, the location of the debris zone is not yet known. A NASA risk assessment places the odds of a human casualty at 1:3200. For last-chance sightings of UARS, check the Simple Satellite Tracker or download the Satellite Flybys app for your smartphone.

WEEKEND AURORAS: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept 17th, sparking a moderate geomagnetic storm (Kp=6) and auroras around the Arctic Circle. The view from Siberia was exquisite:

"I took the picture using my Nikon D3 digital camera," says photographer Ruslan Ahmetsafin of Aykhal, Siberia. "The sky was full of green."

Reverberations from the CME impact have subsided. NOAA forecasters estimate a less than 1% chance of geomagnetic storms tonight. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

more weekend images: from Michael Kunze flying 30,000 ft over Greenland; from Chad Blakley of Abisko National Park, Sweden; from Joseph Bradley of Whitehorse, Yukon; from B.Art Braafhart of Salla, Finnish-Lapland; from Laffen Jensen of Stjorda, Trondheim, Norway; from John Dean of Dexter, Alaska

UPDATED: September 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004]

WILD AND CRAZY SUNSET: "Last night I decided to hunt for a green flash," says photographer Mila Zinkova of San Francisco. "So I took my camera to the beach to watch the sunset." She found what she was looking for--and much more. Scan the snapshots in full size, then read the description below:

"I was watching the the mock-miraged sun slowly descend toward the horizon when suddenly it was eclipsed," says Zinkova. "A big ship was passing just in front of the sun. A distorted fragment of sun rose above the ship like a solar prominence and just below it there was a green flash! After the ship passed I observed a few more green flashes. I also captured sunspots in some frames--not to be mistaken with birds."

The California Coast is a good place to see these things. The combination of cold offshore ocean current and warm winds from the land create temperature inversions that bend the sun’s rays to form fantastic mirages and green flashes. Birds, ships, and sunspots add their own distinctive contribution to the wild-and-craziness. More of Zinkova's California sunset-shots may be found here.

  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 September 19, 2011 there were 1244 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2003 QC10
Sep 18
50 LD
--
1.2 km
2004 SV55
Sep 19
67.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2007 TD
Sep 22
6.2 LD
--
58 m
2002 AG29
Oct 9
77.1 LD
--
1.0 km
2000 OJ8
Oct 13
49.8 LD
--
2.4 km
2009 TM8
Oct 17
0.9 LD
--
8 m
2011 FZ2
Nov 7
75.9 LD
--
1.6 km
2005 YU55
Nov 8
0.8 LD
--
175 m
1994 CK1
Nov 16
68.8 LD
--
1.5 km
1996 FG3
Nov 23
39.5 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 WM7
Dec 9
47.6 LD
--
1.5 km
1999 XP35
Dec 20
77.5 LD
--
1.0 km
2000 YA
Dec 26
2.9 LD
--
80 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
 
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