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INCOMING SOLAR WIND STREAM: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Oct. 24th when a fast moving stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras early next week. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
THE ASTEROID THAT WASN'T AN ASTEROID: Last week on Oct. 16th, NASA's Lucy spacecraft made an atmosphere-skimming flyby of our planet. It didn't come alone. Hours before Lucy arrived, another object buzzed Earth only a few hundred km above our planet's surface. Astronomers thought it was an asteroid and named it 2022 UQ1.
Flyby trajectories of Lucy and 2022 UQ1. Credit: Tom Ruen [more]
On second thought, it wasn't an asteroid at all. Amateur astronomer Bill Gray and NASA engineer Davide Farnocchia took a closer look at 2022 UQ1's orbit and realized it matched Lucy's old Centaur booster rocket. They've been traveling through space in tandem since Lucy launched a year ago. The Minor Planet Center at Harvard University quickly retracted the asteroid designation.
Although Lucy and the Centaur flew past Earth at similar distances, the flybys were on opposite sides of the planet, so their orbits were bent in different directions. Lucy gained momentum and hurtled out toward Jupiter. (Lucy is on a mission to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.) The Centaur, on the other hand, turned toward the inner solar system for a perihelion between Mercury and Venus. It will be near Earth again on Nov. 8, 2024. Stay tuned for space junk.
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VENUS AND THE STREAMERS: Venus is passing by the sun this week as it heads for superior solar conjunction on Oct. 22nd. Today it is arcseconds away from a bright polar streamer:
This coronagraph image comes from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
Streamers are magnetic loops emerging from the surface of the sun. The solar wind stretches them into long narrow structures with pointy tips. There are five streamers in today's coronagraph image. Streamer #1, pointing almost directly toward Venus, has roots near the sun's north pole.
This image tells us something interesting about the solar cycle. During Solar Minimum, streamers emerge primarily from the sun's equator, giving the sun a Saturn-like appearance. At Solar Maximum, however, streamers can pop up anywhere, turning the solar disk into a porcupine of plasma quills. Today's sun looks more like a porcupine, signalling that Solar Max is on its way. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD ORNAMENT: This is a must-have Christmas ornament for space fans: The Voyager Golden Record. On Oct. 15th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. The 4-inch aluminum disk is imprinted with instructions intended for extraterrestrials, telling them how to play the phonographs now sailing through interstellar space onboard NASA's Voyager probes. Having touched the edge of space, it's the closest thing on Earth to an actual Golden Record.
The students are selling these unique ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and extra materials decoding the markings on the disk.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 Oct 21, 2022, the network reported 52 fireballs.
(27 sporadics, 20 Orionids, 3 southern Taurids, 1 epsilon Geminid, 1 Leonis Minorid)
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 October 21, 2022 there were 2307 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2020 BD | 2022-Oct-16 | 12.1 LD | 11.4 | 20 |
2022 UU | 2022-Oct-16 | 5.4 LD | 13.8 | 22 |
2022 SK15 | 2022-Oct-16 | 9.5 LD | 15.8 | 62 |
2022 UG3 | 2022-Oct-16 | 0.2 LD | 15.5 | 5 |
2022 QM6 | 2022-Oct-16 | 19.6 LD | 4.2 | 69 |
2022 UO | 2022-Oct-17 | 16.7 LD | 15.5 | 18 |
2022 UA5 | 2022-Oct-17 | 0.4 LD | 4.5 | 4 |
2022 UR | 2022-Oct-17 | 10.8 LD | 9.5 | 9 |
2022 UJ1 | 2022-Oct-18 | 7.2 LD | 4.5 | 9 |
2022 UM | 2022-Oct-18 | 6.1 LD | 10.7 | 15 |
2022 UK1 | 2022-Oct-18 | 13.4 LD | 11.4 | 45 |
2022 US | 2022-Oct-18 | 18.7 LD | 5.5 | 42 |
2022 UB | 2022-Oct-18 | 10.3 LD | 7.8 | 16 |
2022 UX2 | 2022-Oct-18 | 12.4 LD | 4.3 | 15 |
2022 UV4 | 2022-Oct-18 | 1 LD | 5.8 | 6 |
2022 UY2 | 2022-Oct-18 | 9.1 LD | 6.6 | 25 |
2022 UT1 | 2022-Oct-19 | 16.6 LD | 14.9 | 17 |
2022 UA | 2022-Oct-19 | 8.8 LD | 13.1 | 14 |
2022 SF63 | 2022-Oct-19 | 5.5 LD | 3.9 | 10 |
2022 UE | 2022-Oct-19 | 3.8 LD | 5.5 | 18 |
2022 TS2 | 2022-Oct-20 | 5.9 LD | 14.3 | 43 |
2022 UG | 2022-Oct-20 | 3.6 LD | 9.2 | 20 |
2022 UD1 | 2022-Oct-20 | 4.5 LD | 5 | 8 |
2022 UO1 | 2022-Oct-20 | 16.9 LD | 14.6 | 33 |
2022 UL | 2022-Oct-20 | 6.7 LD | 10.4 | 18 |
2022 UR4 | 2022-Oct-20 | 0 LD | 15.2 | 6 |
2022 US1 | 2022-Oct-21 | 11.7 LD | 8.9 | 14 |
2022 TT2 | 2022-Oct-21 | 6.7 LD | 12.1 | 34 |
2022 UG2 | 2022-Oct-21 | 1.6 LD | 10.5 | 15 |
2022 UM4 | 2022-Oct-21 | 5.4 LD | 14.9 | 46 |
2022 UC1 | 2022-Oct-21 | 1.4 LD | 6.8 | 20 |
2022 UW3 | 2022-Oct-21 | 8.1 LD | 19.7 | 71 |
2022 UT | 2022-Oct-22 | 5.5 LD | 12.2 | 19 |
2022 RB5 | 2022-Oct-22 | 13.1 LD | 5.3 | 115 |
2022 UC2 | 2022-Oct-24 | 13.9 LD | 8 | 16 |
2022 UH2 | 2022-Oct-24 | 5.7 LD | 11.9 | 11 |
2005 AZ28 | 2022-Oct-24 | 11.5 LD | 5.4 | 48 |
2022 UY1 | 2022-Oct-25 | 17.9 LD | 9.3 | 30 |
2022 UC3 | 2022-Oct-25 | 10.1 LD | 8.4 | 12 |
2022 UU2 | 2022-Oct-25 | 2.7 LD | 12.7 | 13 |
2016 TH94 | 2022-Oct-25 | 19.1 LD | 13.5 | 43 |
2022 TY | 2022-Oct-25 | 15.1 LD | 5.1 | 21 |
2022 UV2 | 2022-Oct-26 | 1.5 LD | 5.8 | 8 |
2022 UU1 | 2022-Oct-26 | 10.8 LD | 7.2 | 22 |
2022 UF4 | 2022-Oct-27 | 11.7 LD | 13.2 | 46 |
2019 AN5 | 2022-Oct-27 | 20 LD | 6.8 | 215 |
2022 UM3 | 2022-Oct-28 | 8.7 LD | 7.5 | 12 |
2022 UD3 | 2022-Oct-28 | 8.4 LD | 6.5 | 20 |
2004 UT1 | 2022-Oct-29 | 3.9 LD | 6.4 | 17 |
2021 VH | 2022-Nov-01 | 5.9 LD | 5.3 | 4 |
2022 RM4 | 2022-Nov-01 | 6 LD | 23.5 | 443 |
2022 UN5 | 2022-Nov-04 | 14.7 LD | 8.2 | 31 |
2022 UK5 | 2022-Nov-08 | 14.3 LD | 5.2 | 46 |
2020 WD | 2022-Nov-08 | 3 LD | 6 | 8 |
2022 UC5 | 2022-Nov-08 | 6 LD | 12.9 | 38 |
2019 XS | 2022-Nov-10 | 16.7 LD | 11.9 | 60 |
2020 FC4 | 2022-Nov-12 | 19.3 LD | 13.3 | 78 |
2022 UP2 | 2022-Nov-14 | 10.6 LD | 6 | 33 |
2019 VL5 | 2022-Nov-15 | 8.5 LD | 8.1 | 24 |
2018 WH | 2022-Nov-16 | 2.5 LD | 7.7 | 4 |
2019 OR1 | 2022-Nov-21 | 18.1 LD | 13.4 | 246 |
2005 LW3 | 2022-Nov-23 | 3 LD | 13.5 | 168 |
2010 VQ | 2022-Dec-02 | 11.9 LD | 3.9 | 10 |
2009 HV58 | 2022-Dec-02 | 12.3 LD | 28.8 | 427 |
2017 QL33 | 2022-Dec-03 | 16 LD | 6.9 | 195 |
2019 XY | 2022-Dec-10 | 3.6 LD | 12.9 | 9 |
2003 YS70 | 2022-Dec-13 | 10.4 LD | 4.1 | 5 |
2019 XQ1 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.5 LD | 9.8 | 30 |
2018 XU3 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.8 LD | 10.3 | 30 |
2021 XS4 | 2022-Dec-14 | 14.5 LD | 9.7 | 23 |
2015 RN35 | 2022-Dec-15 | 1.8 LD | 5.9 | 84 |
2016 YE | 2022-Dec-18 | 18.6 LD | 4.8 | 23 |
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 |
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