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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 336.8 km/sec
density: 9.4 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A1 2301 UT May24
24-hr: A1 2354 UT May23
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 24 May 20
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 24 May 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 22 days
2020 total: 113 days (78%)
2019 total: 281 days (77%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)
Updated 24 May 2020

Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 3.01x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 24 May 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 24 May 2020

Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are near a Space Age peak.

Oulu Neutron Counts
Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +10.4% Very High
48-hr change: +0.5%
Max: +11.7% Very High (12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 24 May 2020 @ 1700 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
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: 5.4 nT
Bz: -4.8 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 24 May 20

Solar wind flowing from this southern coronal hole could brush Earth's magnetic field on May 29th. Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds NLC season has begun. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected a blue cloud over the north pole on May 17th--one of the earliest starts in the spacecraft's 14 year history. Check here for daily images from AIM.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at:
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2020 May 24 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: 2020 May 24 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
 
Sunday, May. 24, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when auroras appear in your area. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. Now you can, too!

 

SUNSET PLANETS: Tonight, when the sun goes down, step outside and look west. Venus, Mercury, and the crescent Moon are lining up in the sunset sky. Venus and the Moon will pop out of the twilight first, followed by Mercury as the sky darkens. Sky maps: May 23, 24.

Shahrin Ahmad sends this picture from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

"It was a totally mesmerizing conjunction between the Moon, Venus and Mercury just now," says Ahmad. "Luckily, the sky cleared out nicely after sunset."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

NOCTILUCENT CLOUD SIGHTINGS (UPDATED): Around the north pole, noctilucent cloud (NLC) season is underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft spotted the first NLCs from polar orbit on May 17th. This weekend, people on the ground saw them, too. Kairo Kiitsak sends this picture from Simuna, Estonia:

"This is something new for me," says Kiitsak. "I've seen NLCs before, but never so early in the season." The clouds were also sighted in Helsinki, Finland and Jelgava, Latvia.

NLCs are Earth’s highest clouds. Seeded by meteoroids, they float at the edge of space more than 80 km above the ground. The clouds form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise up to the mesosphere, allowing water to crystallize around specks of meteor smoke.

The 2020 NLC season is beginning ahead of schedule. AIM's detection of clouds over the north pole on May 17th marks the 2nd-earliest start to a season since the spacecraft was launched 14 years ago. Ground-based observers often don't see their first clouds until early June.

Northern sky watchers should be alert for more NLCs in the evenings ahead. The clouds can appear after sunset when the sun is more than 6o below the horizon: diagram. They glow electric-blue against the darkening twilight sky and are often filled with finely-structured ripples sculpted by rarefied winds at the edge of space.

UPDATE--A Russian rocket might be involved: On May 22nd, a Soyuz-2 rocket launched from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome, propelling a missile warning satellite into orbit. Water vapor in the rocket's exhaust likely reached the mesosphere, providing the moisture necessary to create these clouds. "The connection with the Soyuz is quite plausible," says Mike Stevens of the Naval Research Lab. Stevens is an expert in "rocket assisted NLCs." His research has linked space shuttle launches to similar displays in the late 1990s.

Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE INFINITY BLACK PEARL: It came from Tahiti--and now it's been to the edge of space. On April 15, 2020, this genuine Black Tahitian South Sea Cultured Pearl flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, soaring 107,611 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:

You can have it for $249.95. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling these exotic space pearls to fund their cosmic ray monitoring program.

Measuring 9 mm in diameter, the pearl is mounted on a 925 sterling silver infinity twist and suspended on a matching 17 inch long sterling silver chain. Each pearl comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

  All Sky Fireball Network
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 May 24, 2020, the network reported 37 fireballs.
(37 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]
  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 May 24, 2020 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 KA
2020-May-19
2 LD
5.8
12
2020 JD2
2020-May-19
10 LD
9.5
28
2020 KR
2020-May-20
1 LD
13.8
9
2020 KV2
2020-May-20
19.4 LD
7.9
24
2020 KP
2020-May-21
2.7 LD
13.4
9
136795
2020-May-21
16.1 LD
11.7
892
2020 JE1
2020-May-22
14.4 LD
7.5
39
2020 KF2
2020-May-22
16.9 LD
6
21
2020 KW1
2020-May-22
1.5 LD
8
6
2020 KD1
2020-May-22
1 LD
8.9
10
2020 JH2
2020-May-22
10.8 LD
15
43
2020 JY1
2020-May-22
3.1 LD
8.7
30
2020 KU
2020-May-23
1 LD
7.1
7
2020 JR1
2020-May-23
3.8 LD
6.2
10
2020 KJ
2020-May-23
9 LD
15.7
45
2020 JX
2020-May-23
19.5 LD
8
62
2020 KX
2020-May-24
12.3 LD
7.5
20
2020 JZ1
2020-May-24
11.6 LD
5.6
25
2020 KZ2
2020-May-25
9.2 LD
3.7
10
2020 KU2
2020-May-25
9.5 LD
13.7
24
2020 KP3
2020-May-25
3.7 LD
7.8
23
2020 JP2
2020-May-27
11.6 LD
8.6
18
2020 KJ3
2020-May-27
7.8 LD
10.1
23
2020 JN3
2020-May-27
4.3 LD
5.8
12
2020 KV
2020-May-28
7.2 LD
12.7
35
2020 JM1
2020-May-28
9.5 LD
5.8
21
2020 JV2
2020-May-29
9.2 LD
11.5
25
2020 KB
2020-May-29
7.5 LD
12.2
40
2020 KD3
2020-May-29
7.9 LD
7.4
18
2020 KU1
2020-May-29
15.4 LD
12.4
42
2020 KV1
2020-May-29
10.1 LD
4.8
21
2020 KN2
2020-Jun-02
5.8 LD
8.4
17
2020 KF
2020-Jun-02
12.1 LD
10.8
26
2020 KJ1
2020-Jun-02
5.5 LD
5.1
20
163348
2020-Jun-06
13.3 LD
11.1
339
2020 KO1
2020-Jun-06
15.5 LD
7.3
36
2020 KQ1
2020-Jun-06
13.4 LD
14.9
53
2020 KK3
2020-Jun-07
17.7 LD
11.9
29
2013 XA22
2020-Jun-08
7.6 LD
6.7
98
2020 KZ3
2020-Jun-08
3.2 LD
6
20
2020 KY
2020-Jun-10
17.3 LD
2.4
20
2020 JQ2
2020-Jun-11
15.2 LD
4.5
25
2020 JS1
2020-Jun-11
9.9 LD
5
19
2020 JU1
2020-Jun-13
19 LD
6.6
47
2020 KB3
2020-Jun-13
3.1 LD
7.6
45
2017 MF7
2020-Jun-14
3.7 LD
10.9
23
2020 KF3
2020-Jun-18
13 LD
3.3
13
2018 PD22
2020-Jun-19
17.2 LD
14.6
56
2020 KR1
2020-Jun-22
11.6 LD
6.8
43
441987
2020-Jun-24
9.8 LD
12.9
186
2017 FW128
2020-Jun-25
6.9 LD
5.4
11
2020 JX1
2020-Jun-29
3.3 LD
5
60
2019 AC3
2020-Jul-01
10.5 LD
3.4
12
2007 UN12
2020-Jul-04
16.7 LD
2.9
6
2009 OS5
2020-Jul-13
17.6 LD
2.6
45
2016 DY30
2020-Jul-19
9 LD
15.1
3
2002 BF25
2020-Jul-21
9.4 LD
6.8
129
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

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: 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 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above 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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, 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.

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.

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.

  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
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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