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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 471.8 km/sec
density: 2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3
2130 UT Sep26
24-hr: B7
1250 UT Sep26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 26 Sept 10
Sunspots 1108 and 1109 are quiet. Solar activity is expected to remain low throughout the weekend. Credit: SDO/HMI. Resolutions: 4096, 1024, 512
Sunspot number: 40
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 25 Sep 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 41 days (16%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 809 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 25 Sep 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 83 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 25 Sep 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 0.2 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 26 Sept 10
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole might brush against Earth's magnetic field on or about Sept. 28th.. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Sep 26 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
10 %
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: 2010 Sep 26 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Sunday, Sep. 26, 2010
What's up in space
 

AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE

 

ROCKET LAUNCHED: A Minotaur IV rocket blasted off from Vandenberg AFB on Saturday, Sept. 25th, at 9:41 pm PDT, carrying a military space surveillance satellite into Earth orbit. The rocket's flight was visible for hundreds of miles around the southern California launch site. Images: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7.

TRIPLE RAINBOW: Double rainbows are commonplace. Sunlight reflected once inside raindrops produces the primary arc; sunlight reflected twice produces the secondary. Most people who have seen a single rainbow, have also seen a double.

But have you ever seen a triple? Daryl Pederson of Anchorage, Alaska, spotted one on Sept. 20th:

"Here's something you don't see every day--three rainbows at once!" says Pederson. "The bonus third rainbow was caused by an image of the sun reflected from Potter's Marsh into the falling rain above."

Three rainbows is not the record, however. Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley has documented cases of four, five and even six bows in the same scene. Read all about them here.

more images: from Calvin Hall of Beluga Point near Anchorage Alaska; from John Maynard of Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota; from Jeff Berkes of Kilo, Hawaii; from Marko Korosec of Dolenja vas, Senozece, Slovenia, Europe; from Alan Dyer of Cluny, Alberta, Canada; from Slanec Erich of Vienna, Austria

EGYPTIAN SUNSET: On Sept. 24th in Giza, Egypt, Aymen Ibrahem positioned himself in front of the Pyramid of King Khephren to photograph the sunset. "Every year, just after the autumnal equinox, the sun sets directly behind the east-west aligned Sphinx," he explains. "I knew it would be a great photo-op." His pictures, however, revealed more than he expected. Scroll past the Sphinx to find out what he saw.

"When I took a close look at the images, I found two sunspots," he says. Indeed, sunspots 1108 and 1109 are large enough to see without the amplification of a solar telescope. "Drifting clouds and the dusty air lowered the brightness of the sun enough for me to capture them using nothing more than my camera (a Sony DSC H5)."

more images: from Frans Zietsman of Fourways, Johannesburg, South Africa; from Steliyan Kimov of Sofia, Bulgaria;

a cautionary note: Never look at the sun through the optical viewfinder of a camera or unfiltered telescope. Even when the sun is dimmed by haze or clouds, sunlight magnified by optics can damage your eyes, resulting in temporary or permanent blindness. Play it safe: Use the camera's LCD screen to preview the scene.


Sept. 2010 Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 2000]

  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 26, 2010 there were 1145 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 SF
Sep 16
8.3 LD
25.3
39 m
2010 SE
Sep 18
5.7 LD
24.4
57 m
2009 SH2
Sep 30
7.1 LD
24.9
45 m
1998 UO1
Oct 1
32.1 LD
16.6
2.1 km
2005 GE59
Oct 1
77 LD
18
1.1 km
2001 WN5
Oct 10
41.8 LD
18.2
1.0 km
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
16.9
1.8 km
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
14.6
5.3 km
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
16.7
1.9 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
40.6 LD
18.1
1.0 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
19.3
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
15.5
3.4 km
2005 QY151
Nov 16
77.7 LD
17.6
1.3 km
2008 KT
Nov 23
5.6 LD
28.2
10 m
2002 EZ16
Nov 30
73.9 LD
18.2
1.0 km
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
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
 
 
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