You are viewing the page for May. 25, 2020
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 328.6 km/sec
density: 8.1 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A1
1830 UT May25
24-hr: A1
1627 UT May25
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 25 May 20
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 25 May 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 23 days
2020 total: 114 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 25 May 2020


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 3.00
x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 25 May 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 25 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: +10.3% Very High
48-hr change: +0.2%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 25 May 2020 @ 1700 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.0 nT
Bz: 2.8 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 25 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 25 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 25 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 %
 
Monday, May. 25, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

When the pandemic is over, Marianne Bergli would like to show you something: The Northern Lights. Marianne's team at Heaven on Earth Aurora Tours is eager to see you when flights to Norway resume--perfect for small groups/families.

 

SOLAR MINIMUM CONDITIONS ARE IN EFFECT: The sun has been blank (without sunspots) for 23 days in a row--a sign that Solar Minimum is underway. In fact, it's shaping up to be the deepest Solar Minima of the Space Age. So far this year the sun has been blank 78% of the time, a rate of spotlessness we haven't seen since 1913 (85%). During Solar Minimum there are few sunspots and solar flares, but extra cosmic rays. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

NAKED-EYE JELLYFISH SPRITES: Have you ever seen a sprite? Some say it's impossible. The strange and fleeting forms of red lightning materialize above thunderheads, usually disappearing again in less time than it takes to blink. Yet storm chaser Michael Gavan had no trouble seeing these on May 23rd:

"Extremely bright 'jellyfish' sprites were easily visible naked-eye through evening twilight!" says Gavin. "This is a framegrab of the brightest one I managed to capture with my astrophotography-modified Canon T3i."

Gavin saw the display from northwestern Kansas. "Clear skies afforded fantastic views of an MCS (Mesoscale convective system) moving through the Nebraska panhandle almost 100 miles away," he says. "I wasn't the only one who saw them. Reports were coming in that people were seeing sprites from Interstate 70 as well."

The storm lasted so long, Gavin had time to attach an 85mm lens to his camera for some close-up shots. "Because I had an image of the same area without a sprite from a few seconds earlier, I was able to subtract the sky (stars, airglow, etc) to make a 'difference image' of the sprite structure without any distractions." This is the result:

"There are some very interesting fine-scale features in jellyfish sprites!" he says.

Solar Minimum could be boosting sprites. During the low phase of the solar cycle--happening now--cosmic rays from deep space flood into the inner solar system relatively unimpeded by the sun's weakening magnetic field. Some models hold that cosmic rays help sprites get started by creating conductive paths in the atmosphere. If so, now is a good time to look for jellyfish in the sky: Viewer's guide.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

BRIGHT LIGHT FROM A JAPANESE SPACEHIP: Spoiler alert: This spaceship did not explode. But it looked like it did. On May 24th, Ralf Vandebergh was watching Japan's HTV9 robotic cargoship fly over the Netherlands, and this is what he saw:

"I used my 10-inch telescope to record this bright flare coming off the HTV9 on its way to the International Space Station," says Vandebergh. "Sunlight briefly glinted from the HTV9's elongated body, creating an outburst of light."

The HTV9 is still intact, and that's good news for the crew of the space station. They are looking forward to the delivery of fresh food contained inside the spacecraft's pressurized interior. HTV9 is also delivering a major experiment in microgravity combustion as well as some fresh lithium-ion batteries for the ISS. The spacecraft was launched from Japan on May 21st and is scheduled to reach the space station later today.

Realtime Space Weather 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 25, 2020, the network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 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 25, 2020 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
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
40
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
9
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
44
2020 JX
2020-May-23
19.5 LD
8
62
2020 KX
2020-May-24
12.3 LD
7.5
19
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
24
2020 JP2
2020-May-27
11.6 LD
8.6
18
2020 KJ3
2020-May-27
7.8 LD
10.1
22
2020 JN3
2020-May-27
4.3 LD
5.8
12
2020 KV
2020-May-28
7.2 LD
12.7
33
2020 JM1
2020-May-28
9.5 LD
5.8
21
2020 JV2
2020-May-29
9.2 LD
11.5
26
2020 KB
2020-May-29
7.5 LD
12.2
40
2020 KD3
2020-May-29
7.9 LD
7.4
19
2020 KU1
2020-May-29
15.4 LD
12.4
42
2020 KV1
2020-May-29
10.1 LD
4.7
21
2020 KN2
2020-Jun-02
5.8 LD
8.4
17
2020 KD4
2020-Jun-02
10.5 LD
5.2
22
2020 KF
2020-Jun-02
12.1 LD
10.8
26
2020 KJ1
2020-Jun-02
5.5 LD
5.1
20
2020 KE4
2020-Jun-03
7.7 LD
9.1
29
163348
2020-Jun-06
13.3 LD
11.1
339
2020 KO1
2020-Jun-06
15.5 LD
7.3
35
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
21
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
48
2020 KB3
2020-Jun-13
3.2 LD
7.5
46
2017 MF7
2020-Jun-14
3.7 LD
10.9
23
2020 KF3
2020-Jun-17
12.5 LD
3.5
14
2018 PD22
2020-Jun-19
17.2 LD
14.6
56
2020 KR1
2020-Jun-22
11.6 LD
6.8
42
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
59
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

For stratospheric potential wins you can play Megaways slots. Check out the list of sites from Lioncasinos for reliable casino brands that offer these.

   

To get the best views of the cosmos, check out the Phoenix Window Glass Replacement experts for all your window and glass needs

Spaceweather.com welcomes these supporters of science communication: RV Sales and CRAS, the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences and Windshield Replacement Phoenix and Plastic Surgeon Phoenix

   
Look no further to find the best real estate agency – Brett Cairns: RE/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty in Comox – for residential home sales
   
NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page
   
Chicago SEO Expert
   
Search Kelowna Real Estate Listings & Homes for Sale easily.
Find help on all Calgary Homes For Sale and Real Estate Listings. Great source for Edmonton Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale
The best place for soundcloud followers buy is definitely BRSM.IO

To find reviews of new online casino sites in the UK try The Casino DB where there are hundreds of online casino reviews complete with bonuses and ratings.

Get a bonus when playing at a new casino in the UK. The Genie got you covered! 

Looking for a new online casino? Try Casimpo the new site dedicated to making online casino simple and easy for all.

  These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters!
  more links...
       
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.